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We combined mobile biplane X‐ray imaging and magnetic resonance imaging to measure the regions of articular cartilage contact and cartilage thickness at the tibiofemoral and patellofemoral joints during six functional activities: standing, level walking, downhill walking, stair ascent, stair descent, and open‐chain (non‐weight‐bearing) knee flexion. The contact centers traced similar paths on the medial and lateral femoral condyles, femoral trochlea, and patellar facet in all activities while their locations on the tibial plateau were more varied. The translations of the contact centers on the femur and patella were tightly coupled to the tibiofemoral flexion angle in all activities (r2 > 0.95) whereas those on the tibia were only moderately related to the flexion angle (r2 > 0.62). The regions of contacting cartilage were significantly thicker than the regions of non‐contacting cartilage on the patella, femoral trochlea, and the medial and lateral tibial plateaus in all activities (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in thickness between contacting and non‐contacting cartilage on the medial and lateral femoral condyles in all activities, except open‐chain knee flexion. Our results provide partial support for the proposition that cartilage thickness is adapted to joint load and do not exclude the possibility that other factors, such as joint congruence, also play a role in regulating the structure and organization of healthy cartilage. The data obtained in this study may serve as a guide when evaluating articular contact motion in osteoarthritic and reconstructed knees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate knowledge of knee joint motion is needed to evaluate the effects of implant design on functional performance and component wear. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to measure and compare 6‐degree‐of‐freedom (6‐DOF) kinematics and femoral condylar motion of posterior‐stabilized (PS), cruciate‐retaining (CR), and medial‐stabilized (MS) knee implant designs for one cycle of walking. A mobile biplane X‐ray imaging system was used to accurately measure 6‐DOF tibiofemoral motion as patients implanted with PS (n = 23), CR (n = 25), or MS (n = 26) knees walked over ground at their self‐selected speeds. Knee flexion angle did not differ significantly between the three designs. Relative movements of the femoral and tibial components were generally similar for PS and CR with significant differences observed only for anterior tibial drawer. Knee kinematic profiles measured for MS were appreciably different: external rotation and abduction of the tibia were increased while peak‐to‐peak anterior drawer was significantly reduced for MS compared with PS and CR. Anterior‐posterior drawer and medial‐lateral shift of the tibia were strongly coupled to internal‐external rotation for MS, as was anterior‐posterior translation of the contact center in the lateral compartment. MS exhibited the least amount of paradoxical anterior translation of the femur relative to the tibia during knee flexion. The joint center of rotation in the transverse plane was located in the lateral compartment for PS and CR and in the medial compartment for MS. Substantial differences were evident in 6‐DOF knee kinematics between the healthy knee and all three prosthetic designs. Overall, knee kinematic profiles observed for MS resemble those of the healthy joint more closely than PS and CR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate knowledge of knee kinematics is important for a better understanding of normal joint function and for improving patient outcomes subsequent to joint reconstructive surgery. Limited information is available that accurately describes the relative movements of the bones at the knee in vivo, even for the most common of all activities: walking. We used a mobile X‐ray imaging system to measure the three‐dimensional motion of the entire knee‐joint complex—femur, tibia, and patella—when humans walk over ground at their natural speeds. Data were recorded from 15 healthy individuals (9 males, 6 females; age 30.5 ± 6.2 years). The most pronounced rotational motion of the tibia was flexion‐extension followed by internal‐external rotation and abduction‐adduction (peak‐to‐peak displacements: 70.7°, 9.2°, and 1.9°, respectively). Maximum anterior translation of the tibia was 6.5 mm and occurred in early swing, coinciding with peak knee flexion and peak internal rotation. The most prominent rotational motion of the patella was flexion‐extension (peak‐to‐peak displacement: 50.5°). The tibia pivoted about the medial compartment of the tibiofemoral joint, conferring greater movements of the contact centers in the lateral compartment than the medial compartment (15.4 and 9.7 mm, respectively). Internal‐external rotation, anterior‐posterior translation and medial‐lateral shift of the tibia as well as flexion‐extension and anterior‐posterior translation of the patella were each coupled to the knee flexion angle, as were movements of the contact centers at each joint. These fundamental data serve as a valuable resource for evaluating knee joint function in normal and pathological gait. The data are available in Supplementary_Material_Data.xlsx. © 2019 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most X-ray fluoroscopy systems are stationary and impose restrictions on the measurement of dynamic joint motion; for example, knee-joint kinematics during gait is usually measured with the subject ambulating on a treadmill. We developed a computer-controlled, mobile, biplane, X-ray fluoroscopy system to track human body movement for high-speed imaging of 3D joint motion during overground gait. A robotic gantry mechanism translates the two X-ray units alongside the subject, tracking and imaging the joint of interest as the subject moves. The main aim of the present study was to determine the accuracy with which the mobile imaging system measures 3D knee-joint kinematics during walking. In vitro experiments were performed to measure the relative positions of the tibia and femur in an intact human cadaver knee and of the tibial and femoral components of a total knee arthroplasty (TKA) implant during simulated overground gait. Accuracy was determined by calculating mean, standard deviation and root-mean-squared errors from differences between kinematic measurements obtained using volumetric models of the bones and TKA components and reference measurements obtained from metal beads embedded in the bones. Measurement accuracy was enhanced by the ability to track and image the joint concurrently. Maximum root-mean-squared errors were 0.33 mm and 0.65^\circ for translations and rotations of the TKA knee and 0.78 mm and 0.77^\circ for translations and rotations of the intact knee, which are comparable to results reported for treadmill walking using stationary biplane systems. System capability for in vivo joint motion measurement was also demonstrated for overground gait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We measured the moment arm of the knee-extensor mechanism as ten healthy young individuals performed six functional activities: level walking, downhill walking, stair ascent, stair descent, open-chain (non-weight-bearing) knee flexion, and open-chain knee extension. The moment arm of the knee-extensor mechanism was described by the moment arm of the patellar-tendon force, which acts to rotate the tibia about the instantaneous axis of rotation (screw axis) of the knee. A mobile biplane X-ray imaging system enabled simultaneous measurements of the three-dimensional movements of the femur, tibia and patella during each activity, from which the position and orientation of the screw axis and the patellar-tendon moment arm (PTMA) were determined. Mean PTMA across all activities and all participants remained nearly constant (~46 mm) from 0° to 70° of knee flexion and decreased by no more than 20% at higher flexion angles. The magnitude of the PTMA varied more substantially across individuals than across activities, indicating that the moment arm is more heavily influenced by differences in knee-joint geometry than muscle loading. Hence, PTMA measurements obtained for a given activity performed by one individual may be used with good confidence to describe the PTMA for any other activity performed by the same individual. Caution is advised when using PTMA measurements obtained from one individual to describe the moment arm in another individual even once the data are normalized by knee bone size, as the PTMA varied by as much as 13% from the mean across individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]