In-vivo Passive Kinematics of Osteoarthritic Knees

INTRODUCTION Osteoarthritis (OA) can lead to pain, disability, and loss of range of motion in the knee. The pre-operative condition of the knee has been shown to influence the functional outcome of treatments for OA [1]. A greater understanding of how motion of the knee is affected by OA may facilitate the assessment of the efficacy of potential treatments. We used a computer-assisted navigation system to study the passive kinematics of osteoarthritic knees intra-operatively and answer two questions: 1) Does the varus or valgus malalignment of the knee measured in full extension persist with flexion of the knee? and 2) Do “femoral rollback” (posterior translation of the femur on the tibia with flexion) and “screw-home” (external rotation of the femur with flexion) motions seen in a normal knee remain in an OA knee?