Preventing premature osteoarthritis in young adults with knock-knee deformity through exercises: scoping literature review

Abstract

The knee is the largest joint in the human body and works with the hip and ankle joints to make the flexion and extension movement function. Knock-knee or genu valgum alignment is a condition that includes excessive medial rotation of the femur relative to the tibia or excessive lateral rotation of the tibia relative to the femur. Consequently, the joint's angles rotated inside and are inclined towards each other which causes people with this condition to apply more load on the lateral side of the feet while they are walking. Non-surgical treatment of people with knock-knee is done to prevent them from developing osteoarthritis in the knee joint. The aim of this literature review was to find comprehensive corrective exercise programs for young adults with genu valgus deformity to prevent premature osteoarthritis. The main aim of this review is to produce brief and useful learning materials about knock-knee alignment exercises and informative video clips showing how to do the exercise correctly. The video will focus on the best exercises to use by those with knock-knee to prevent the early onset of osteoarthritis. A scoping literature review was conducted as the method of the study. Twelve (n=12) articles were systematically collected from March 2023 to August 2023 in various academic databases including Google Scholar, PubMed, Cinahl, Savonia Finna, Käypä Hoito, and Finna. fi. The data extracted from these sources were analyzed by applying inductive content analysis. This study was conducted in collaboration with Savonia University of Applied Sciences which served as the partner corporation for this thesis work. These findings suggest that targeted exercise regimens can effectively address knock-knee issues in young adults. These exercises included the functional corrective exercise group, high-impact kinetic and knee flexed exercises group, functional hip static training and hip abduction group, functional quadriceps static training group, Pilates mat work and core stabilization group, functional controlling valgus movement and balance control exercises group. The results of the literature review were promising, showing that the specific exercise groups that concentrated on enhancing quadriceps and hip strength demonstrated significant improvements in dynamic knee valgus. Since knock-knee is a well-known risk factor for premature osteoarthritis, these improvements in the dynamic knee angle may reduce the risk factors associated with the development of osteoarthritis in the knee joint. Ultimately, this could potentially delay the onset of osteoarthritis and contribute to better long-term joint health. This review underscores the importance of exercise as a preventive measure to address knee joint issues and the potential benefits it can offer in reducing the risk of osteoarthritis.