Can a back injury cause knee/leg conditions?
It is often claimed that a previous compensable back injury with degenerative disc disease and resulting mechanical low back pain can cause or aggravate osteoarthritis of the knees due to increased knee joint stress precipitated by the back problem. The exact cause of knee osteoarthritis is uncertain but it is known that factors such as excessive body weight, injury or any activity that creates excessive force transmission across the bearing surface of the joint can initiate or aggravate an existing arthritic condition, basically due to the wear and tear phenomena. Lower extremity joint force tends to increase with walking speed so that force transmission is greater for young, fit individuals than for those who are elderly and disabled with a slow gait. It is commonly believed that injury to one leg can precipitate symptoms in the opposite uninjured limb (see discussion paper “Symptoms in the Opposite or Uninjured leg” by W. R. Harris and I. J. Harrington which outlines the mechanics o
