Influence of tibial bearing curvatures of a customised total knee implant on squatting motion and loads

Abstract

A range of preliminary designs of customised total knee implants (CTKIs) was created by resurfacing the distal femur and applying different tibial bearing surface curvatures. These were then compared with a scaled off-the-shelf symmetric total knee implant (STKI). To evaluate the biomechanical performance, a dynamic knee simulation model was created with patient-specific muscle and ankle joint loads calculated from an OpenSim musculoskeletal model. Simulation results showed the transverse curvatures of the tibial bearing surface influenced femoral mediolateral translation, while its longitudinal curvatures affected femoral adduction. Compared to the STKI, the CTKIs could restore patient knee function.

Keywords:

• customised total knee implant
• tibial bearing curvatures
• musculoskeletal model
• finite element modelling and analysis
• dynamic tibiofemoral compressive forces
• tibiofemoral relative motion

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr Fiona Berryman for help with reviewing and proofreading. We also thank Professor B.J. Fregly and his colleagues for providing publicly accessible data.

Disclosure statement

We have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Additional information

Funding

Department of Engineering and Design, University of Sussex for financial support.