The Effect of Anti-Gravity Treadmill Training in Patients With Meniscus Tears

July 7, 2025 updated by: Kübra Alpay, Bezmialem Vakif University

The Effect of Anti-Gravity Treadmill Training on Symptoms and Functions in Patients With Meniscus Tears

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of anti-gravity treadmill training on symptoms and functions in patients with meniscus tears.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Meniscus tears are one of the most common sports-related injuries. Acute trauma-related tears are more common in active young individuals and athletes. Symptoms such as pain, effusion, tenderness at the joint line, locking, and knee dysfunction are observed after injury. It is aimed to provide painless movement, normal knee kinematics, and retaining of muscle strength in rehabilitation process. Anti-gravity treadmills use an inflatable space around the lower extremities and significantly reduce body weight during walking and running. Anti-gravity treadmill training protects the joint and surrounding soft tissues against the negative effects of loading during the post-injury recovery process, and allows the tissues to heal safely. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of anti-gravity treadmill training on symptoms and functions in patients with meniscus tears.

Patients will be randomly divided into three groups: Anti-Gravity Treadmill Group, Conventional Treadmill Group, and Control Group. All patients will be included physiotherapy and rehabilitation program for 6 weeks, 2 days a week. While subjects in the Anti-Gravity Treadmill Group will participate to training anti-gravity treadmill walking, subjects in the Conventional Treadmill Group will participate walking program on a standard treadmill. Symptoms and functions will be assessed baseline and after 6-week program.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

48

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Turkey
    • Eyup
      • Istanbul, Eyup, Turkey
        • Recruiting
        • Bezmialem Vakif University
        • Contact:
          • Kubra Alpay
          • Phone Number: 4638 +902124012600

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age between 18-40 years old
  • Clinical history and symptoms consistent with MRI-confirmed meniscus tear

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of previous knee surgery
  • Other knee ligament pathologies
  • Neurological disorders

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Anti-gravity Treadmill Group
Anti-gravity treadmill (Alter G) walking program in addition to physiotherapy and rehabilitation
Other: Anti-gravity treadmill training
Patients will participate to anti-gravity treadmill (Alter G) walking program in addition to physiotherapy and rehabilitation program for 6 weeks, 2 days a week.
Other: Standard physiotherapy and rehabilitation program
Patients will participate to physiotherapy and rehabilitation program for 6 weeks, 2 days a week.
Active Comparator: Conventional Treadmill Group
Standard treadmill walking program in addition to physiotherapy and rehabilitation
Other: Standard physiotherapy and rehabilitation program
Patients will participate to physiotherapy and rehabilitation program for 6 weeks, 2 days a week.
Other: Conventional treadmill training
Patients will participate to walking program on a standard treadmill in addition to physiotherapy and rehabilitation program for 6 weeks, 2 days a week.
Active Comparator: Control Group
Physiotherapy and rehabilitation program
Other: Standard physiotherapy and rehabilitation program
Patients will participate to physiotherapy and rehabilitation program for 6 weeks, 2 days a week.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Visual analog scale-pain
Time Frame: Baseline, 6 weeks
Patients will be asked to mark the intensity of the pain they feel on a 10 cm line, where "0" means no pain and "10" means very severe pain.
Baseline, 6 weeks
Dynamic stability
Time Frame: Baseline, 6 weeks
The single leg dynamic stability will be assessed by using Biodex Balance System® (Biodex Medical Systems, Inc. USA). Low values of the stability index indicate better balance and stability.
Baseline, 6 weeks
Single leg-hop test
Time Frame: Baseline, 6 weeks
In the single-leg hop test, the measurement of the landing distance from the starting line is recorded for evaluation.
Baseline, 6 weeks
Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score
Time Frame: Baseline, 6 weeks
The Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) is used to assess symptoms and functional status in knee injuries and osteoarthritis and consists of five dimensions. Each dimension is scored separately and transformed to a scale from 0 to 100. Lower scores from the scale indicate worse pain, symptoms, function, and quality of life.
Baseline, 6 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Kinesiophobia
Time Frame: Baseline, 6 weeks
The Tampa Kinesiophobia Scale will be used to evaluate kinesiophobia. Scores obtained from the scale range from 17 to 68, with higher scores indicating greater severity of kinesiophobia.
Baseline, 6 weeks
Western Ontario Meniscal Evaluation Tool
Time Frame: Baseline, 6 weeks
The Western Ontario Meniscal Evaluation Tool (WOMET) is a disease-specific assessment tool used to assess health-related quality of life in patients with meniscus pathology. The least symptomatic score is 0, and the most symptomatic score possible is 1,600. Higher scores indicate a more symptomatic condition.
Baseline, 6 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Bezmialem Vakif University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Kubra Alpay, PhD, Bezmialem Vakif University

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 20, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 15, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 15, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

October 17, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

July 8, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 7, 2025

Last Verified

July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • KA24-4

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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