A real-time subject-specific gait retraining dosage selection method for knee osteoarthritis

Subject-specific gait retraining is an effective method to reduce the knee adduction moment (KAM) for knee osteoarthritis but current methods of selecting the specific training target are time-consuming and the final selected new gait pattern may be too awkward to be used in daily life. This paper presents a real-time, self-selected, subject-specific gait retraining dosage selection method which enables quick gait retraining target selection. A specific KAM map with different gait modification dosages was generated and patients self-selected their most acceptable strategy to reduce the KAM by 15%. Three symptomatic knee osteoarthritis patients participated in a pilot study and all of them successful select a new gait pattern that reduced a markable knee adduction moment. The proposed real-time, subject-specific gait retraining dosage selection method could be used to inform future conservative, gait retraining treatment options for early stage knee osteoarthritis.