A biomechanic comparison of knees: healthy vs medial pivot total knee arthroplasty

The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyse the biomechanical differences between a healthy knee and a post total knee arthroplasty (TKA) knee.The aim of undertaking such an analysis is to identify areas of design or performance deficiencies of TKA implants which can, in future, be improved upon to reduce patient dissatisfaction, pain and failure rates and to further improve the function and longevity of the joint.This was achieved by performing 3D gait analysis on a healthy cohort of participants and a patient cohort 6 months after knee replacement surgery. A medial pivot knee TKA implant was applied to the patient cohort. The gait observed included both level walking and stair ascent/descent performed at a self-paced speed. This was done using an array of infrared motion tracking cameras and ground embedded force plates which allowed for a kinematic and kinetic analysis of motion, respectively. The study found that medial pivot TKA does allow for certain biomechanics and gait patterns to replicate those of healthy knees. This study faced time constraints and sample size limitations. These were remedied with process automation and revising methodological protocols to increase the efficiency of data acquisition. Future works can aim to improve on the findings of this report by testing a larger sample size and investigating with a broader scope to compile a more comprehensive analysis of healthy and TKA gait.