Background: Although osteoarthritis affects a great portion of the population little is known on the loading of the human locomotor system of osteoarthritics during ambulation. Purpose: To examine and compare the characteristics of shock generation and absorption between healthy and osteoarthritic females during various walking conditions. Material and Method: Ten middle-aged healthy and ten osteoarthritic women walked barefoot on a motorized treadmill at 1.5 and 2.5 miles per hour while its surface was level, uphill and downhill. The peak decelerations of the shank and head during the contact of the foot with the ground were recorded with a low mass accelerometer. In order to secure unbiased estimation of the results, ten steps were computed for each walking condition in all subjects. A three-way ANOVA compared all dependent variables. Results: Similar peak shank deceleration was recorded between healthy (2.83 + 0.19 g) and osteoarthritic women (2.78 + 0.23 g) (p>0.05) whereas osteoarthitic displayed significant (p<0.05) lower values of peak head deceleration (0.66 + 0.05 g) than healthy females (0.81 + 0.06 g). Fast walking produced significanly higher deceleration values (p<0.01) than slow walking at the shank (3.71 + 0.23 g vs. 1.91 + 0.31 g) and head (0.97 + 0.07 g vs. 0.51 + 0.07 g). Significant peak tibial (2.46 + 0.42 g) (p<0.05) and head deceleration (0.78 + 0.12 g) (p<0.01) values were also found during level walking. During uphill ambulation, there were also significant peak tibial (3.15 + 0.57 g) (p<0.05) and head deceleration (0.62 + 0.09 g) (p<0.01) values. Lastly in downhill walking, there were significant peak tibial (2.81 + 0.39 g) (p<0.05) and head deceleration (0.81 + 0.13 g) (p<0.01) values. Conclusion: The findings might suggest that slow and level walking could be recommended to patients suffering from osteoarthritis since they produce the least stress on the musculoskeletal system.