Allied Health Faculty Publications

Spectral Analysis of Knee Isokinetic Extension Curves of Osteoarthritic Patients

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2010

Journal Title

Isokinetics and Exercise Science

Volume

18

Issue

4

First Page

189

Last Page

192

Abstract

Isokinetic assessment of knee extensors muscle group function in patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis has exclusively been achieved using time-domain based variables. While useful, these analyses do not quantify the conspicuously irregular moment-time pattern exhibited by the involved knee when compared to the contralateral knee. The purpose of this investigation was to assess whether the frequency content of the isokinetic curve can quantify this latter phenomenon. Thirty two patients with knee osteoarthritis participated in this study. Each participant performed 5 maximal concentric knee extensions bilaterally at 60°/s using an isokinetic dynamometer. For each time-domain extension curve, the power spectrum was calculated via Fast Fourier Transform and the maximum frequency content value contained within 99% of total signal power was extracted. Of the 32 participants, 26 exhibited higher frequency contents in the isokinetic curves obtained from their involved knee (p= 0.002, effect size=0.35). The results suggest that the frequency content of isokinetic moment-time curves may provide useful quantitative information regarding the smoothness of moment production, and as such, may be used in conjunction with traditional time-domain variables in the assessment of knee extensors function in patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis.

Keywords

Osteoarthritis

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