Associations between less knee kinematic variability and worse patient-reported outcomes following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Individuals with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) exhibit less knee kinematic variability while walking than uninjured controls, associated with deleterious changes in cartilage composition linked to an increased risk for early knee osteoarthritis (KOA). It is unknown whether less knee kinematic variability is also associated with worse knee-related patient-reported outcomes (PROs) consistent with KOA development. This study examined associations between kinematic variability during gait and PROs in individuals post-ACLR. Gait kinematics and the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) were collected from 45 participants 6-months post-ACLR (67% Females; 21.45 ± 4.56 years). Overground gait biomechanics using 3D motion capture were collected, and knee kinematics were extracted for post-processing. Sample entropy (SampEn) was used to calculate knee kinematic variability. Pearson's product-moment correlations were conducted to determine the associations between SampEn and KOOS sub-scores. Additionally, independent samples t-tests were performed to evaluate potential differences in SampEn outcomes between individuals with and without clinically relevant symptoms (defined in the introduction). Less sagittal plane kinematic variability is associated with greater pain (<i>r</i> = 0.37, <i>p</i> = 0.01) and symptoms (<i>r</i> = 0.32, <i>p</i> = 0.03). Symptomatic participants demonstrated less sagittal plane knee kinematic variability compared to asymptomatic participants (<i>p</i> = 0.01). The findings suggest less variable gait patterns 6-months post-ACLR may be linked to KOA-related symptoms.