Authors: Noah Bezzant, Mikayla Kimball, Ashley Allan
Mentors: Brent Feland
Insitution: Brigham Young University
BACKGROUND: General knee pain is a common complaint among both athletes and older adults. Osteoarthritis is a common etiology for knee pain that can interfere with function during aging and can be assessed by validated questionnaires. It remains unclear whether there exists a dose–response relationship between cartilage loss and pain worsening. Articular cartilage thickness of the femoral condyles can be measured by ultrasound imaging and few studies utilizing this form of measurement exist. It is currently unknown if articular cartilage thickness measured ultrasonographically correlates with pain related ratings in aging athletes.
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess whether articular cartilage thickness at the femoral condyles as measured by ultrasound imaging has any relationship to knee pain as rated by the modified KOOS (Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score) survey in senior athletes over the age of 50.
METHODS: Data was collected from 35 volunteers (participants in the Huntsman World Senior Games) in St. George, Utah, 2023. All subjects (22 females: mean age = 64.9 ± 6.6 yrs, Ht = 158.7 ± 35.6 cm, Wt= 66.3 ± 10.0 kg; 13 males: mean age = 67.3 ± 8.3 yrs, Ht = 179.3 ± 10.7 cm, Wt= 84.3 ± 13.4 kg) signed an approved consent and completed a modified KOOS survey before being seated on a table, with their back flattened against the wall directly behind them. They were then asked to bring either knee as deeply into flexion against their torso as possible; approximating 120°-140° of knee flexion, depending on the range of motion the subject was capable of. In flexion, the patella was shifted inferiorly enough to expose the femoral condyles so that a short axis image of the articular cartilage was obtained and the thickness of the cartilage was assessed at 3 points.
ANALYSIS: All data were analyzed using JMP ver16.2 with a Pearson product pairwise correlations to determine if a relationship between average cartilage thickness correlates with pain subscale scoring from the KOOS in males and females. Correlation between age and thickness was also examined.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: There were no significant correlations between the pain subscale score and cartilage thickness in males (p=.6998, r=0.1316), females (p=.8733, r=0.0392), or combined (p=.7308, r=0.0655) in this group of senior athletes. Age and thickness was not significantly correlated (p=.1232, r= -0.2877), but did show a trend of decreasing cartilage thickness with age. The addition of more subjects should show age and thickness to be negatively correlated with each other.