BACKGROUND: Knee osteoarthritis is a chronic disease that affects joint cartilage, causing bone structure alterations, pain and stiffness during movement. Obesity is one of its principal risk factors. Complaints about functional disability are frequent, especially for locomotion activities, which people with knee osteoarthritis perform slower. With the increasing levels of obesity in Brazil, it is important to understand how knee osteoarthritis affects human functional capacity, in order to devise treatment and prevention measures. OBJECTIVE: To examine the influence of pain intensity, radiographic severity, obesity level and symptom duration on the functional capacity of obese individuals with knee osteoarthritis. METHOD: Pain intensity was measured using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Index (WOMAC) questionnaire and during functional capacity tests. Radiographic severity was analyzed using the Kellgren-Lawrence classification and the obesity level was assessed using body mass index (BMI). Four functional velocity tests were performed: usual gait, fast gait, ascending stairs and descending stairs. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 31 women and 4 men, with mean age of 51.65 ± 10.72 years and BMI of 41.16 ± 8.37 kg/m². The greatest intensity of pain was reported during stair activities. Only pain intensity presented significant correlations with the results from the velocity tests. CONCLUSION: Pain intensity is a factor that influences functional activity performance among obese individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Further studies are necessary for identifying the determining factors for functional capacity in such populations.
obesity; knee osteoarthritis; pain; functional capacity
