Skip Navigation


Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on November 30, 2004
Rheumatology 2005 44(3):378-381; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/keh493
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
44/3/378    most recent
keh493v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bennell, K. L.
Right arrow Articles by Hinman, R. S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bennell, K. L.
Right arrow Articles by Hinman, R. S.
Related Collections
Right arrow Osteoarthritis and Cartilage
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Rheumatology Vol. 44 No. 3 © British Society for Rheumatology 2004; all rights reserved

Effect of experimentally induced knee pain on standing balance in healthy older individuals

K. L. Bennell and R. S. Hinman

Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine, School of Physiotherapy, The University of Melbourne, Australia.

Corresponding author: K. Bennell, Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine, School of Physiotherapy, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia 3050. E-mail: k.bennell{at}unimelb.edu.au

Objective. Standing balance is impaired in older individuals with knee pain. The extent to which this impairment is due to the effects of pain itself or other pathophysiological aspects related to the underlying musculoskeletal condition causing the pain is unclear. To isolate the influence of pain, this study evaluated the effect of experimentally induced knee pain on standing balance in healthy older individuals.

Methods. We used a repeated-measures, within-subject design involving 12 healthy individuals aged 50–60 yr and with no history of knee pathology. Balance was tested during two randomly allocated experimental conditions: (i) control and (ii) knee pain induced by injection of hypertonic saline into the infrapatellar fat pad. Balance was measured using a computerized force platform under static and dynamic conditions as well as via the functional step test.

Results. Standing balance was not significantly altered by experimentally induced acute knee pain, nor was there any relationship between the severity of reported pain and balance scores.

Conclusions. Impairments in balance associated with knee conditions such as osteoarthritis may be due to factors other than the sensation of pain. Thus, strategies designed to reduce pain in treatment of knee pathology may not necessarily lead to improvements in balance. Further research is required to determine the exact causes of balance impairment in individuals with knee joint pain and pathology.

KEY WORDS: Knee joint, Balance, Nociception, Experimental pain, Hypertonic saline


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.