NCT03314428

Gait Retraining for Runners With Knee Osteoarthritis

The Effects of Gait Retraining in Runners With Knee Osteoarthritis

• Status: Withdrawn
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 0 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of British Columbia · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 40 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Tibiofemoral osteoarthritis (TFOA) is highly prevalent in older adults, and often causes symptoms and functional limitations. Physical activity is widely advocated in people with TFOA, and running is an easy and accessible activity that provides many benefits on general health. However, running induces high knee loads, which could potentially contribute to symptoms of runners with TFOA. Previous studies have suggested that running gait modifications can help in decreasing symptoms and knee loading in runners with knee conditions. Yet, no study has been conducted in runners with TFOA. This intervention study will investigate the effects of a 4-week running gait retraining program on symptoms and running biomechanics in runners with TFOA. We hypothesize that running modifications will decrease symptoms, improve function and reduce knee loading.

Conditions

• Osteoarthritis, Knee

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Gait retraining	Over a 4-week period, runners will be asked to increase their step rate to reduce knee loading during running. Specifically, they will have to increase their preferred step rate by 10% during weekly laboratory running sessions as well as during habitual running training. In the laboratory, runners will be provided with live visual/auditory biofeedback on step rate and asked to target a specific value representing 110% or preferred step rate. During their individual running sessions, runners will be wearing a GPS-enabled watch that will provide feedback on live step rate, and they will be asked to maintain the same value as in the laboratory.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-07-01
• Primary completion: 2026-07-01
• Completion: 2026-07-01
• First posted: 2017-10-19
• Last updated: 2026-03-06

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada