Investigation of in-vivo hinge knee behavior using a quasi-static finite element model of the lower limb

Abstract

A key goal of joint endoprosthesis is to become a full-featured functional and anatomical replacement. The joint damage may occur for several reasons - primarily a disease of different nature and magnitude, resulting in gradual and irreversible changes and in an extreme solution in the implantation of artificial joints. However, there should be also mentioned accidents leading to joint destruction, which are often "trigger mechanism" of the disease. This work therefore presents a quasi-static computational finite element analysis of a hinge-type knee replacement, which aim to streamline and accelerate the development of knee endoprosthesis. It tackles a question of the overall strength of the implant and detects sites of elevated concentrations of stresses that may be potential sources of implant damages. It also studies the behavior of the endoprosthesis under quasi static loads with emphasis on the study of the shape and size of the contact surfaces, which are closely related to the size of the contact pressure and material wear. Aside the hinged knee replacement, the computational model consisted of femur, fibula, tibia, patella and 25 most important muscles of the lower limb. Due to realistic definition of the boundary conditions, this model is suitable for investigation of in-vivo knee joint replacement behavior. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.