EFFECTS OF LIGAMENT PRETENSION ON THE BIOMECHANICS OF THE KNEE: A FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Abstract

INTRODUCTION A large number of finite element models have been developed to study the behaviour of the knee joint under different loading conditions. They have been used to study knee ligament function, knee prosthesis design and ligament reconstruction procedures. The terms pretension or prestrain of a knee ligament refer to the strain in the ligament when the joint is at full extension and little is known about its influence on the kinematics of the joint. In knee models, the ligament reference strains are usually merely estimated [1] and sometimes adapted by means of trial and error in order to get better agreement with experimental dat