The knee joint is structurally complex and there are numerous factors that influence knee dynamics. Therefore, it is valuable to study the effect of stride length on knee contact during walking. Moreover, it is crucial to study the mechanical properties of the knee joint for the protection of the knee joint and the mechanism of knee diseases. In this study, a healthy volunteer was invited to investigate the kinematics of the lower limb under different stride lengths by conducting motion capture experiments. Then, a complete and detailed finite element model of the knee was established, and the effect of stride length on the knee contact was studied using the finite element method, where the boundary conditions and loads were set up in accordance with the actual working conditions based on the data obtained from the motion capture experiments. When the stride length was increased by 23.08% compared with the habitual stride length, the knee flexion angle at the beginning moment of the single-legged support phase could be increased by 108.12%, the maximum von Mises stress values on the femur cartilage and meniscus were increased from 5.888 to 16.023MPa and from 5.599 to 17.387 MPa, respectively, and the high-stress zone on the contact surface was also significantly shifted. When the stride length was reduced by 12.31% compared to the habitual stride length, the knee flexion angle at the moment of the end of the singlelegged support phase was reduced by 62.22%, and the maximum von Mises stress values on the femur cartilage and meniscus were reduced from 5.362MPa to 2.074MPa and from 5.255MPa to 1.986MPa, respectively. The results of this paper indicate that when exercising and preventing or treating stride knee diseases by walking, people should choose a suitable stride for exercise according to the health condition of the knee and avoid over-pursuing a large stride to improve the exercise effect, while a smaller stride is suitable for most people.
Chen Huiran, Fu Rongchang, Yang Xiaozheng, Li Pengju, Wang Kun
. Effect of Stride Length on Knee Contact[J]. Journal of Shanghai Jiaotong University(Science), 2025
, 30(4)
: 759
-767
.
DOI: 10.1007/s12204-024-2577-7
[1] SAFIRI S, KOLAHI A A, SMITH E, et al. Global, regional and national burden of osteoarthritis 1990-2017: A systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 [J]. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 2020, 79(6): 819-828.
[2] BIEDERT R M, SANCHIS-ALFONSO V. Sources of anterior knee pain [J]. Clinics in Sports Medicine, 2002, 21(3): 335-347.
[3] BENNELL K L, HINMAN R S. A review of the clinical evidence for exercise in osteoarthritis of the hip and knee [J]. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 2011, 14(1): 4-9.
[4] NA A, BUCHANAN T S. Self-reported walking difficulty influences gait characteristics in patients with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis [J]. Clinical Biomechanics, 2022, 100: 105805.
[5] LO G H, VINOD S, RICHARD M J, et al. Association between walking for exercise and symptomatic and structural progression in individuals with knee osteoarthritis: Data from the osteoarthritis initiative cohort [J]. Arthritis & Rheumatology, 2022, 74(10): 1660-1667.
[6] MILLS K, HÜBSCHER M, O’LEARY H, et al. Current concepts in joint pain in knee osteoarthritis [J]. Schmerz, 2019, 33(1): 22-29.
[7] SAKAMOTO J, MIYAHARA S, MOTOKAWA S, et al. Regular walking exercise prior to knee osteoarthritis reduces joint pain in an animal model [J]. PLoS One, 2023, 18(8): e0289765.
[8] KAUFMAN K R, HUGHES C, MORREY B F, et al. Gait characteristics of patients with knee osteoarthritis [J]. Journal of Biomechanics, 2001, 34(7): 907-915.
[9] WANG X, MA Y, HOU B Y, et al. Influence of gait speeds on contact forces of lower limbs [J]. Journal of Healthcare Engineering, 2017, 2017: 6375976.
[10] WARD S R, POWERS C M. The influence of patella Alta on patellofemoral joint stress during normal and fast walking [J]. Clinical Biomechanics, 2004, 19(10): 1040-1047.
[11] MAGALHÃES C M B, RESENDE R A, KIRKWOOD R N. Increased hip internal abduction moment and reduced speed are the gait strategies used by women with knee osteoarthritis [J]. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 2013, 23(5): 1243-1249.
[12] EDD S N, BENNOUR S, ULRICH B, et al. Modifying stride length in isolation and in combination with foot progression angle and step width can improve knee kinetics related to osteoarthritis; A preliminary study in healthy subjects [J]. Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 2020, 142(7): 074505.
[13] FAVRE J, ERHART-HLEDIK J C, CHEHAB E F, et al. General scheme to reduce the knee adduction moment by modifying a combination of gait variables [J]. Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 2016, 34(9): 1547-1556.
[14] MILNER C E, MEARDON S A, HAWKINS J L, et al. Walking velocity and step length adjustments affect knee joint contact forces in healthy weight and obese adults [J]. Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 2018, 36(10): 2679-2686.
[15] ULRICH B, PEREIRA L C, JOLLES B M, et al. Walking with shorter stride length could improve knee kinetics of patients with medial knee osteoarthritis [J]. Journal of Biomechanics, 2023, 147: 111449.
[16] ATMACA H, ÖZKAN A, MUTLU İ, et al. The effect of proximal tibial corrective osteotomy on menisci, tibia and tarsal bones: A finite element model study of tibia vara [J]. The International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery, 2014, 10(1): 93-97.
[17] GUESS T M, THIAGARAJAN G, KIA M, et al. A subject specific multibody model of the knee with menisci [J]. Medical Engineering & Physics, 2010, 32(5): 505-515.
[18] LI G, LOPEZ O, RUBASH H. Variability of a three-dimensional finite element model constructed using magnetic resonance images of a knee for joint contact stress analysis [J]. Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 2001, 123(4): 341-346.
[19] LI Z X, LIU L, GAO L L, et al. Establishment and validation of precise finite element model of human total knee joint [J]. Biomedical Engineering and Clinical Medicine, 2020, 24(5), 501-507 (in Chinese).
[20] SHU L M, YAMAMOTO K, YOSHIZAKI R, et al. Multiscale finite element musculoskeletal model for intact knee dynamics [J]. Computers in Biology and Medicine, 2022, 141: 105023.
[21] DASZKIEWICZ K, ŁUCZKIEWICZ P. Biomechanics of the medial meniscus in the osteoarthritic knee joint [J]. PeerJ, 2021, 9: e12509.
[22] DONG Y F, HU G H, ZHANG L L, et al. Accurate 3D reconstruction of subject-specific knee finite element model to simulate the articular cartilage defects [J]. Journal of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Science), 2011, 16(5): 620-627.
[23] FARROKHI S, KEYAK J H, POWERS C M. Individuals with patellofemoral pain exhibit greater patellofemoral joint stress: A finite element analysis study [J]. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, 2011, 19(3): 287-294.
[24] FURUMATSU T, OKAZAKI Y, OKAZAKI Y, et al. Injury patterns of medial meniscus posterior root tears [J]. Orthopaedics & Traumatology: Surgery & Research, 2019, 105(1): 107-111.
