Participants

Unicondylar knee replacement is offered to those patients who have intact anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments, a well-preserved lateral compartment, varus and flexion deformity of less than 15 degrees each and at least 110 degrees of knee flexion.⁶ There were 32 patients eligible for this study, of whom 26 volunteered and were available for testing; these patients participated in the pilot study. Thirteen of the available patients had received unilateral TKA with a LCS® mobile-bearing prosthesis,⁷ and thirteen had received unilateral medial UKA with Oxford® partial knee prosthesis.⁶ To be included in this study, the patients were required to be at least one-year postoperative, have an asymptomatic and clinically normal contralateral knee and be able to walk independently. Patients were excluded if their contralateral knee had been replaced or if there was any impairment of their hip or ankle on either leg. These criteria were selected to ensure kinetic gait analysis could be carried out on patients with well-functioning knee replacements and no external factors affecting their gait.