Recovery of balance control in bilateral medial knee osteoarthritis after total knee arthroplasty during level walking

Older adults are at higher risk of falling following total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, it remains unclear how long a full recovery of the balance control during gait post‐TKA will take. The current study aimed to bridge this knowledge gap via long‐term follow‐up gait analyses. Twelve older adults with severe bilateral medial knee osteoarthritis (OA) before, 3 and 12 months after TKA, and twelve healthy controls were evaluated for their balance control during level walking, in terms of the inclination angle (IA) of the center of pressure to center of mass vector, and the rate of change of IA (RCIA). The patients before TKA showed significantly increased sagittal IA but decreased RCIA throughout the gait cycle (p