Lateral knee translation measures in adults with knee osteoarthritis

The abrupt lateral translation of the knee during walking, often referred to as varus thrust, has been used as a proxy of medial knee loading in patients with knee osteoarthritis. While attempts have been made to quantify varus thrust using high-speed motion capture or accelerometers, there is little known regarding how these methods compare. The current study examined the convergent validity of four methods to quantify varus thrust. The results suggest that kinematic-based methods may differ from accelerometer-based methods. Future research should not only look to further validate these methods but provide a better operational definition for varus thrust.