Beneficial effects of a gait used while wearing a kimono to decrease the knee adduction moment in healthy adults

The knee adduction moment (KAM) relates to medial knee osteoarthritis (OA). Several gait modifications to reduce the KAM for the prevention of knee OA have been studied. Most of the modifications, however, involve voluntary changes in leg alignment. Here we investigated the biomechanical effects for reducing the KAM of a walking style with a small trunk rotation and arm swing gait, which is a natural walking style used while wearing a kimono (Nanba walk) that shifts the ground reaction force toward the stance leg (reduced lever arm). Twenty-nine healthy adults (21.5 ± 0.6 years) participated in the present study. A three-dimensional analysis system with 10 cameras and 1 force plate was used to obtain the KAM and other biomechanical data. Surface electromyography (EMG) of the hip and trunk muscles (internal obliquus abdominal muscle: IO, external obliquus abdominal muscle: EO, multifidus muscle: MF, and gluteus medius muscle: Gmed) was also assessed, and integrated EMG (iEMG) of the four muscles was assessed in the first and second halves of the stance phase. The 1(st) and 2(nd) peak KAMs were significantly decreased during Nanba walking (0.40±0.09 and 0.37±0.13 Nm/kg) compared with normal walking (0.45±0.09 and 0.45±0.13 Nm/kg; P = 0.002, P<0.001, respectively). The lever arm lengths at the 1(st) and 2(nd) peak KAMs were also significantly decreased during Nanba walking compared with normal walking (p = 0.023 and p<0.001, respectively). The iEMGs of IO, EO and Gmed muscles during the first half, and the iEMGs of EO and GM during the second half of the stance phase were significantly increased during Nanba walking compared with normal walking. The Nanba gait modification could be a useful strategy for reducing the KAM with high activation of the trunk and hip joint muscles for the prevention and/or treatment of medial knee OA.