Estimation of the knee adduction moment and joint contact force during daily living activities using inertial motion capture

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a major cause of pain and disability in the elderly population with many daily living activities being difficult to perform. In the present study, we describe and evaluate an inertial motion capture (IMC) driven musculoskeletal model to estimate the knee adduction moment and tibiofemoral joint contact force. Eight elderly participants performed activities common in daily living, including stair climbing and sit to stand movements. The findings demonstrated that a musculoskeletal model driven by IMC provide estimates of tibiofemoral joint moments and contact forces, with comparable accuracy to the same musculoskeletal model using optical motion capture (OMC) and force plate measurements.