WATCH ABOVE: 3D Analysis helps osteoarthritis sufferers get back to the activities they love
CALGARY -Patricia Pennell has spent a lot time recently enjoying the beauty of Alberta’s rocky mountains, doing an activity that she loves.
“In the summer when I came in here I said do you think I’ll ever snow shoe again?” Pennell recalls. “And I did!”
When Pennell first visited Calgary’s Running Injury Clinic in the spring of 2014, she was suffering from pain and swelling related to osteoarthritis of the knee. A condition that causes the protective cartilage around the bone to deteriorate.
“I couldn’t move. I could barely walk, even lying in bed I was in pain,” she recalls.
WATCH BELOW: Test for osteoarthritis
It’s estimated osteoarthritis of the knee impacts 1 in every 8 Canadian adults. While therapeutic exercise has been shown to help ease some symptoms of OA, it doesn’t help everyone.
“We know it only works on a small segment of the population,” says Dr. Reed Ferber, a researcher with Calgary’s Running Injury Clinic.
Using 3D analysis along with other data, Ferber’s team has developed a tool that can help predict how patients will respond to either traditional forms of physiotherapy or more specialized care.
“We take scientific measurements of how they walk and put it through a prediction algorithm and with 85% accuracy we can determine the type of treatment someone with knee osteoarthritis needs to hopefully get them to an 80% improvement with their pain and suffering,” Ferber explains.
After undergoing the analysis, Pennell was given a customized physiotherapy program, within months she says her condition improved significantly.
“The 14 sets of exercises that I have to do have been life changing,” she says. “I can move now without pain.”
For more information about the study visit the Running Injury Clinic’s website.
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