ANALYSIS OF LOAD TRANSMISSION IN INTACT AND ACL-DEFICIENT KNEE JOINTS UNDER DRAWER AT DIFFERENT FLEXION ANGLES

摘要

Adequate understanding of functional biomechanics of human knee joints is critical in assessment and improvement of current prevention, evaluation and treatment procedures of the joint disorders and injuries. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) normal function, injury, diagnostic and replacement have remained controversial despite the very high incidence of ACL rupture and replacement as well as considerable research efforts reported in this field. Similar situation holds true with regard to the other components of the joint such as menisci. Our earlier model studies have demonstrated coupling between the ACL and medial meniscus at full extension under horizontal forces suggesting a greater mechanical importance for the medial meniscus following an ACL transection The current model study, as a continuation of our earlier works, aimed to investigate the detailed passive response of the fully unconstrained intact and ACL-deficient tibiofemoral joints under up to 100N posterior femoral force at different flexion angles varying from 0° to 90°.