Static and Dynamic Plantar Pressure Distribution in 94 Patients with Different Stages of Unilateral Knee Osteoarthritis Using the Footscan(®) Platform System: An Observational Study

BACKGROUND: Plantar pressure analysis is widely used in the study of knee osteoarthritis (KOA). The present study aimed to investigate the static and dynamic plantar pressure distribution in patients with different stages of unilateral KOA using the Footscan® platform system. MATERIAL/METHODS: We recruited 94 patients aged 61.75±7.23 years old with different stages of unilateral KOA for static and dynamic analysis using the Footscan(®) platform system. The static pressure (%) of the left, right, anterior, posterior, and the pelvic rotation (°) was assessed. The peak pressure (PP, kPa) was investigated in 10 areas of the foot: medial heel (MH), lateral heel (LH), midfoot (MF), first to fifth metatarsals (M1–M5), hallux (T1), and toes 2–5 (T2–5). The correlation between KOA stages and plantar pressure distributions was investigated. RESULTS: The results revealed that static pressure on the unaffected side and pelvic rotation were positively correlated with KOA stages. In addition, there was a positive correlation between KOA stages and PP of M5, MF, and LH zones on the affected side and PP of M2, M3, and M4 zones on the unaffected side, and a negative correlation between KOA stages and PP of T1 and T2–5 zones on the affected side. CONCLUSIONS: With the progression of KOA, static plantar pressure tends to distributed on the unaffected side, and the dynamic plantar pressure tends to be distributed laterally on both feet. The plantar pressure distributions in unilateral KOA patients are abnormal and are closely related to the severity of KOA.