Kinematics of the Normal Knee during Dynamic Activities: A Synthesis of Data from Intracortical Pins and Biplane Imaging

Abstract

Few studies have provided in vivo tibiofemoral kinematics of the normal knee during dynamic weight-bearing activities. Indeed, gold standard measurement methods (i.e., intracortical pins and biplane imaging) raise ethical and experimental issues. Moreover, the conventions used for the processing of the kinematics show large inconsistencies. This study aims at synthesising the tibiofemoral kinematics measured with gold standard measurement methods. Published kinematic data were transformed in the standard recommended by the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB), and a clustering method was applied to investigate whether the couplings between the degrees of freedom (DoFs) are consistent among the different activities and measurement methods. The synthesised couplings between the DoFs during knee flexion (from 4° of extension to −61° of flexion) included abduction (up to −10°); internal rotation (up to 15°); and medial (up to 10 mm), anterior (up to 25 mm), and proximal (up to 28 mm) displacements. These synthesised couplings appeared mainly partitioned into two clusters that featured all the dynamic weight-bearing activities and all the measurement methods. Thus, the effect of the dynamic activities on the couplings between the tibiofemoral DoFs appeared to be limited. The synthesised data might be used as a reference of normal in vivo knee kinematics for prosthetic and orthotic design and for knee biomechanical model development and validation.

Technical considerations in lateral extra-articular reconstruction coupled with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: A simulation study evaluating the influence of surgical parameters on control of knee stability

“…To the best of our knowledge, no gold standard data (i.e., intracortical pins or fluoroscopy) are available concerning knee abduction/adduction, cranio/caudal and medio/lateral translation during squat movements. Nevertheless, our results are in the range of those found in the literature for dynamic activities (Gasparutto et al, 2017).…”

Knee loading in OA subjects is correlated to flexion and adduction moments and to contact point locations

“…The subject-specific contact point trajectories were measured during a quasi-static squat and may vary in different weight-bearing tasks. Even though, Gasparutto et al (2015) 58 showed that the impact of the dynamic activity on the couplings between the joint degrees of freedom was limited. Similarly, a recent systematic review 59 showed that CPxmed and CPxlat were in the range of other contact point trajectories measured by fluoroscopy on both OA and healthy subjects during various weight-bearing tasks (gait, step-up, kneeling, squat…).…”

Knee medial and lateral contact forces in a musculoskeletal model with subject-specific contact point trajectories

“…Indeed, a mismatch between the kinematics of the tibiofemoral joint would result in different CP trajectories. Nevertheless, Gasparutto et al (2017) synthesized the kinematics of the normal knee during various weight-bearing activities measured by intra-cortical pins and biplane fluoroscopy and concluded that the impact of the dynamic activity on the couplings between the joint degrees of freedom was limited. Treadmill walking also creates some differences in the kinematics of the gait (Alton et al, 1998;Murray et al, 1964;Strathy et al, 1983;Warabi et al, 2005).…”