Motion analysis of Chinese normal knees during gait based on a novel portable system

•We investigated the six-degree-of-freedom knee kinematics of adult Chinese during gait.•A novel portable joint kinematics measurement system was applied to study knee kinematics.•The results obtained in this study are comparable with those reported in literatures.•Normal Chinese knees exhibited distinct gait patterns, except for anteroposterior motion.•Women and men exhibit different axial rotations and mediolateral translation patterns during the treadmill gait.

Normative tibiofemoral data of Chinese or Asian subjects during gait is rarely reported. This study is aimed at investigating the six-degree-of-freedom (6DOF) knee kinematics of adult Chinese during gait, based on a novel portable system. Twenty-eight healthy Chinese subjects (56 knees) were studied during their treadmill gaits. A set of optical marker clusters were attached to the thighs and shanks of each subject, who was tracked by an optical joint kinematics measurement system. Knee landmarks were initially digitized with respect to the marker cluster sets to determine the local coordinate systems for calculation of 6DOF knee joint kinematics. The range of motion (ROM) in 6DOF and 5 kinematic parameters were calculated and compared between bilateral knees and genders. We discovered that knee rotations, as well as motion in proximodistal and mediolateral translations, showed similar patterns in flexion and extension. However, the anteroposterior translations did not show a clear pattern. The results of ROM in 6DOF obtained in this study are comparable with those reported in existing literature. No statistical difference was found between left and right knees either in the ROMs or in the 5 kinematic parameters. However, the ROM in the mediolateral direction during gait was found to be higher in men than women (P = 0.014). In addition, the femurs of female subjects rotated more internally than the femurs of male during the stance phase (P = 0.011). We concluded that normal Chinese knees exhibited distinct gait patterns, except for anteroposterior motion. Women and men exhibit different axial rotations and mediolateral translation patterns during their treadmill gait.