Clinical case study in acoustic-kinetic joint analysis: Synchronization and Evaluation of kinetic measurement data in AEA (Acoustic Emission Analysis) based diagnosis of arthritic knee joint defects

Abstract

: In patients with arthritic knee joint defects the course of movement, the application of muscle forces and the degree of freedom of the joints of the lower limbs differs significantly from the corresponding data of a healthy proband. The enhanced acoustic-kinetic joint analysis based on AEA, ground force reaction measurements and video enhanced gait analysis permits the correlation of force data, joint angles and acoustic emission significant of defective joint cartilage regions. This diagnostic procedure permits a quantifiable and detailed non invasive diagnosis of lesion patterns in the arthritic knee joint by means of a synchronization algorithm. The AEA shows lesion signals in the first and third knee bend of the patient. The lesion signals are assigned to the joint angles and ground reaction force. Comparing the kinematical data there is a shift between the curves of the hip and the knee angle. Overall the force data represent an imbalance between the left and the right leg during the knee bends. The presentation of the three measurement systems, the method, the synchronization of the data sets and their final assessment as well as the occurring difficulties during a case of a clinical study are discussed. This would be helpful regarding further patients of the clinical study