Abstract

Knee osteoarthritis is the most common degenerative bone and joint disease in the middle-aged and elderly. Here, we compared the diverse formulations of sports intensity and pharmaceutical selection for knee osteoarthritis patients. In this study, we compared and analyzed the differences and characteristics of lower limb joint kinematics, dynamics and muscle contraction function of knee osteoarthritis patients when walking at different speeds and the ones taking pharmaceutical selection including oral non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs as well as topical capsaicin, so as to explore the impact of walking speed and drugs on the walking ability of knee osteoarthritis patients. 16 patients with left knee osteoarthritis and 16 patients with right knee osteoarthritis were selected and were grouped for different walking speed; 8 subjects were given oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and 8 subjects were given topical capsaicin. Kistler threedimensional dynamometer, Noraxon surface electromyography and Qualisys infrared three-dimensional motion analysis were used to record the gait parameters. Compared with walking at low speed, normal walking speed significantly increased the knee maximum flexion angle. For dynamic parameters, the lowest value of first peak knee adduction moment presented in normal speed patients and there was also significant difference between groups for hip flexion torque (p=0.014), the first peak of knee adduction torque (p=0.043) and knee flexion torque (p=0.040). For the electromyographic parameters, in the early period of support, the speed of the lower extremity rectus femoris (p=0.001), anterior tibial muscle (p=0.016), lateral femur muscle (p=0.040) and the average amplitude of electromyography were not equal for distinct groups. We found that the outcome of kinematics parameters for oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug was greatly higher than topical capsaicin. The research conclusion will provide important scientific basis and theoretical support for knee osteoarthritis population to conduct walking exercise scientifically and reasonably.