Unequal leg length tied to osteoarthritis

Developing early strategies for treatment may be possible, says Derek Cooke, Queen's University adjunct professor and a co-author of the study.

“Most pediatricians adopt a 'wait and see' attitude for children with limb misalignment when they're growing,” says Dr. Cooke. “If we can spot factors creating changes in alignment early in bone development, theoretically we could stop or slow down the progression of osteoarthritis.”

The data was collected using x-ray images from more than 3,000 adults aged 50 to 79 who either had knee pain or risk factors for knee osteoarthritis as a part of the Multi Centre Osteoarthritis Study (MOST). Subjects were reassessed after a 30-month period and the researchers found that osteoarthritic changes in the knee were most significant in individuals with pronounced (more than 1 cm) leg length inequality, the shorter leg being most affected.

Leg length inequality is difficult to detect. A small leg length differential – 1 cm or less – can be corrected with a shoe insert, while a bigger one can be corrected with surgery. But because the condition often goes undiagnosed, many people don't realize they have a leg length differential until they're diagnosed with osteoarthritis.

Arthritis in the knees can cause pain, swelling and stiffness, and limit mobility. Osteoarthritis is very common, affecting 1 in 10 Canadians. The older a person gets, the greater the chance he or she has of developing the disease.

OAISYS Inc. undertook the image analysis work, collecting the limb length and angles measurements for the MOST project.

William F Harvey from Boston University, currently at Tufts Medical Center, was the lead author on the paper, which was recently published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. Queen's University was the only Canadian university involved in this international study.

Media Contact

Kristyn Wallace EurekAlert!

More Information:

http://www.queensu.ca

All latest news from the category: Studies and Analyses

innovations-report maintains a wealth of in-depth studies and analyses from a variety of subject areas including business and finance, medicine and pharmacology, ecology and the environment, energy, communications and media, transportation, work, family and leisure.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors