Lower limb joint forces during walking on the level and slopes at different inclinations

Sloped walking is associated with an increase of lower extremity joint loading compared to level walking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse lower limb joint compression forces as well as tibiofemoral joint shear forces during sloped walking at different inclinations. Eighteen healthy male participants (age: 27.0 ± 4.7 years, height: 1.80 ± 0.05 m, mass: 74.5 ± 8.2 kg) were asked to walk at a pre-set speed of 1.1 m/s on a ramp (6 m × 1.5 m) at the slopes of −18°, −12°, −6°, 0°, 6°, 12° and 18°. Kinematic data were captured with a twelve-camera motion capture system (Vicon). Kinetic data were recorded with two force plates (AMTI) imbedded into a ramp. A musculoskeletal model (AnyBody) was used to compute lower limb joint forces. Results showed that downhill walking led to significantly increased hip, tibiofemoral and patellofemoral joint compression forces (p < 0.05) and to significantly decreased ankle joint compression forces (p < 0.05). Uphill walking significantly increased all lower limb joint compression forces with increasing inclination (p < 0.05). Findings that downhill walking is a stressful task for the anterior cruciate ligament could not be supported in the current study, since anterior tibiofemoral joint shear forces did not increase with the gradient. Due to diverse tibiofemoral joint shear force patterns in the literature, results should be treated with caution in general. Finally, lower limb joint force analyses provided more insight in the structure loading conditions during sloped walking than joint moment analyses.