Ultrasound assessment of distal femoral cartilage thickness measurements after walking/jogging in subjects with pes planus.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Non-randomized comparative study evaluating acute knee cartilage changes across loading conditions in pes planus vs. controls
PubMed 36208527 · doi:10.1016/j.knee.2022.09.007
What was done
Distal femoral cartilage thickness was assessed using ultrasound before and after three separate 30-minute conditions: rest, treadmill walking at preferred walking speed (PWS), and treadmill jogging at 30% above PWS. The study compared 16 participants with pes planus (5 men, 11 women; aged 18–30 years) against 16 healthy controls (3 men, 13 women; aged 18–30 years). Clinical and functional foot status was evaluated using the Foot Function Index and the Foot-Ankle Outcome Survey.
What was found
Preferred walking speed and jogging speed did not differ significantly between groups (p > 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between groups for absolute or percentage changes in cartilage thickness across any of the three conditions (p > 0.05), nor were there significant intragroup differences across conditions (p > 0.05). In the pes planus group, median Foot Function Index scores were 9.78 (range 0–44.35) for the right foot and 9.52 (range 0–40.87) for the left foot, and the median Foot-Ankle Outcome Survey score was 88 (range 65–100). Absolute cartilage thickness values in millimeters were not reported in the abstract.
Why it matters
Acute 30-minute bouts of walking and jogging do not induce detectable distal femoral cartilage deformation on ultrasound in young adults with pes planus compared to controls.
Limits
The sample size is small (32 participants total), raising the risk of type II error. The study only evaluated young, relatively high-functioning adults aged 18–30, limiting generalizability to older or symptomatic populations. Only acute immediate responses to 30 minutes of activity were measured, which does not reflect cumulative or long-term cartilage changes.