Knee Implant Mechanics and Associated Factors

Factors Associated with Knee Replacement:

Patient Weight: Patient weight is highly important for knee replacement because the knee’s are parts that bear the most weight in the body. They are the lower extremities that provide support to the body. Also, they are the ones that spring the body into motion. That is why the knee joints are the fastest to wear out and deteriorate. The amount of activity done with the knee outweighs all other activities with different limbs. Artificial implants should be able to sustain major activity of the knees and they should be able to support the patient for great periods of time.

Shape of the knee: The shape is important because different patients have bones that are calcified at different rates. Also, patients have bone sizes that are different from one another. Thus, the measure matters and the shaping of the artificial implant is important because it serves to offer the patient maximum motion.

Load Transfer: Load transfer is especially important in the knees, because they are highly important in accelerating the person’s movement, thus, there is constant shift of balance on the knees. The spring motion of the knees must have an equalized load transfer. Load transfer also determines how well the patient will be able to do activities such as kneel down, sit, squat, walk, and other vital functions.

Patient Bone quality: The patient bone quality is quite important when considering knee arthroscopy. The patients bones at times can be quite weak. Thus, the joints would not aid the bones at all, but instead make them weaker, so it is important to consider whether there will be a better outcome for the patient through the implants, or whether, there are serious confines to the knee that will lead to harsh results from the procedures taken to put the implants in.

Motion: Motion of the original knee joint should be looked at, but it does not really play into size-up. The new artificial limbs should be able to provide more function than the original joints because the artificial limbs are reinforced and they have the ability to support more than the original joints. The motion of the artificial joints should however match that of the original joints in terms of displacement of the knee during walking and other activities that way there is no problem in such activities in the patient’s future.