Henry Wang, co-author of the study, said walking has numerous health benefits for people of all ages, but it could be even more important for combating painful knee osteoarthritis.

“Waking is a daily activity and a common exercise for all age groups and can provide many benefits, including reducing the risk for Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity,” Wang said. “Despite its benefits, fitness walking also involves risk factors, including increased frontal plane knee loading, which may lead to cartilage degeneration.”

Considering national studies suggest that 41 percent of the adult population has some form of knee misalignment, which increases a person’s likelihood for developing osteoarthritis, alleviating cartilage degeneration is vitally important. Wang and colleagues wanted to help prevent this cartilage degeneration by seeing if walking on an incline could reduce stress on participants’ knees.

Incline Insights

For their study, researchers asked 15 participants to walk at a consistent speed on a treadmill for three-minute intervals. Researchers were able to analyze knee movement and impact stress using 3-D motion capturing technology. The volunteers walked at four different incline gradients.

• 5-degree incline
• 10-degree incline
• 15-degree incline
• 20-degree incline

After looking at the 3-D imaging readouts, researchers uncovered that frontal plane knee movement decreased as the treadmill gradient increased. They concluded that as knee strength improves, doctors should recommend that their patients begin walking at an incline, beginning with about a 5-10 percent incline.

“Incline walking can strengthen leg muscles while introducing less joint load or pressure to the knee,” Wang said. “Therefore, it can be an ideal exercise for these individuals.”

Related source: Ball State University

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