Patients were asked to report on the pain experience during a nominated activity. The baseline value for pain was 6.18, which decreased to 4.9 and 5.8 in the two groups, respectively, with an overall treatment difference of 0.9 (P = .001) favoring the use of the lateral wedge insoles.
There was improvement in knee pain assessed by the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcomes Score from a baseline of 55 points to a score of 60.6 for lateral wedge and 58.9 for the neutral insoles, a between group difference of –1.7 (P = .45).
“Lateral wedge insoles reduce knee pain in selected subjects with painful medial OA, those without patellofemoral OA, and those who are biomechanical responders to these insoles,” Dr. Felson said.
“I think the importance of this study is that it opens the door to a treatment that we were frustrated wasn’t working,” Dr. Felson said. Insoles are inexpensive, safe, and potentially widely useful, and the research paves the way for further study of these insoles and for perhaps for shoes that could modify knee loads.