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Background: Regular walking in different types of footwear may increase the mediolateral shear force, knee adduction moment, or vertical ground-reaction forces that could increase the risk of early development of knee osteoarthritis (OA). Purpose: To compare kinematic and kinetic parameters that could affect the development of knee OA in 3 footwear conditions. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: A total of 40 asymptomatic participants performed walking trials in the laboratory at self-selected walking speeds under barefoot (BF), minimalistic (MF), and neutral (NF) footwear conditions. Knee joint parameters were described using discrete point values, and continuous curves were evaluated using statistical parametric mapping. A 3 × 1 repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to determine the main effect of footwear for both discrete and continuous data. To compare differences between footwear conditions, a post hoc paired t test was used. Results: Discrete point analyses showed a significantly greater knee power in NF compared with MF and BF in the weight absorption phase (P < .001 for both). Statistical parametric mapping analysis indicated a significantly greater knee angle in the sagittal plane at the end of the propulsive phase in BF compared with NF and MF (P = .043). Knee joint moment was significantly greater in the propulsive phase for the sagittal (P = .038) and frontal planes (P = .035) in BF compared with NF and MF and in the absorption phase in the sagittal plane (P = .034) in BF compared with MF and NF. A significant main effect of footwear was found for anteroposterior (propulsion, ↑MF, NF, ↓BF [P = .008]; absorption, ↑BF, MF, ↓NF P = .001]), mediolateral (propulsion, ↑MF, NF, ↓BF [P = .005]; absorption, ↑NF, MF, ↓BF [P = .044]), and vertical (propulsion, ↑NF, BF, ↓MF [P = .001]; absorption, ↑MF, BF, ↓NF [P < .001]) ground-reaction forces. Knee power showed a significant main effect of footwear (absorption, ↑NF, MF, ↓B

Far too little attention has been paid to health effects of air pollution and physical (in)activity on musculoskeletal health. The purpose of the Healthy aging in industrial environment study (4HAIE) is to investigate the potential impact of physical activity in highly polluted air on musculoskeletal health. A total of 1500 active runners and inactive controls aged 18–65 will be recruited. The sample will be recruited using quota sampling based on location (the most air-polluted region in EU and a control region), age, sex, and activity status. Participants will complete online questionnaires and undergo a two-day baseline laboratory assessment, including biomechanical, physiological, psychological testing, and magnetic resonance imaging. Throughout one-year, physical activity data will be collected through Fitbit monitors, along with data regarding the incidence of injuries, air pollution, psychological factors, and behavior collected through a custom developed mobile application. Herein, we introduce a biomechanical and musculoskeletal protocol to investigate musculoskeletal and neuro-mechanical health in this 4HAIE cohort, including a design for controlling for physiological and psychological injury factors. In the current ongoing project, we hypothesize that there will be interactions of environmental, biomechanical, physiological, and psychosocial variables and that these interactions will cause musculoskeletal diseases/protection.