Antalgic maneuvers during walking in men with unilateral knee disability.

The gait of men with unilateral knee disability has not been quantified previously. Interrupted-light photography was used to quantify the gait abnormalities of 35 men whose major disability was unilateral knee pain. The following antalgic maneuvers were found to be common to the gait of these patients: slow and uneven forward progression with lateral lurching toward the painful side, asymmetry in stride and temporal components, and abnormalities in the displacement patterns of most body segments. Subnormal knee motion was found during the stance and swing phases. Because treatment of patients with knee problems is usually directed toward pain relief, an understanding of how pain affects walking performance is important to the clinician when assessing a patient's problem.