Written by We are in the process of developing an extensive database on knee muscle usage in mature adults (30-80 years of age) during the normal activities of daily living (ADLs), such as climbing and descending stairs.
The purpose of the database is to help establish both what “healthy” knee muscle behavior looks like, and correspondingly, the nature of knee muscle imbalance in those subjects who already complain of knee discomfort. One widely accepted factor in the etiology of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is the existence of knee muscle imbalances which can compromise the proper function of the knee joint, and over the course of many years lead to joint damage.
If we can identify the normal balance of flexor and extensor muscle activity of healthy knees during these activities, we will be well positioned to identify those individuals in whom muscle behavior is imbalanced. Our goal is to help reduce the age-related onset of OA in those individuals with muscle imbalance at an early age, which would then permit early intervention (appropriate exercise) to correct the muscle imbalances.
These muscle assessments are being undertake using MyoWave, a remarkable device that converts muscle vibration to absolute effort via a technology called vibromyography (VMG).
Jonathan was one of the subjects who responded to our invitation to perform a simple “step-up” routine which we utilized in this database development project.
Jonathan is a previous college football player with numerous knee injuries in his youth, but was functioning well until the last year.
At the time of testing, Jonathan was struggling just to get up the stairs to the room where the evaluation was taking place but what transpired that day and over the following three weeks was quite inspiring and deepened our appreciation for the sometimes magical information this technology can provide.
Below is a video we did with him:
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