Knee resection and gap balancing instruments and techniques

摘要

Methods, systems and apparatuses including apparatuses that can be used in knee replacement procedures are disclosed. According to one example, a method is disclosed that can include determining a desired flexion space between a tibia and a femur with the patient's knee joint oriented in flexion, referencing a tibia resection guide along the tibia a distance from the desired flexion space, resecting a proximal end portion of the tibia with the tibia resection guide, inserting an intramedullary rod into the femur with the patient's knee joint in flexion, tensioning the patient's knee joint to create a flexion gap by separating the tibia and the femur, sequent to tensioning the patient's knee joint, reorienting the femur into extension relative to the tibia and re-tensioning the patient's knee joint to create an extension gap that substantially matches the flexion gap.