Download Oral Presentation 3 March 22, 1999

Development of Device to
Analyze the Motion of the
Knee
Biomedical Engineers:
Tera George
Kelly Braun
Advisor: Dr. John Dawson
Orthopaedics
Specific Goal of Our Project
• Design, build and test a device which will
hold the femur of a dog and allow
unconstrained motion of the knee joint.
• Analyze this motion to determine the
difference in movement between injured
and non-injured knees.
• Apply this knowledge to develop a similar
method of testing knee joints in humans.
Anatomy and Physiology of
the Knee
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Bones: patella, femur, tibia, fibula
Four main ligaments
Patellar Tendon
Six degrees of
motion
Current Methods of Knee
Testing
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Lachman’s Test
Anterior Drawer Test
Hopping Test (Unilateral)
Bilateral Running Test
MRI, not required, often overused
Through history and physical exam of
patient
cited at: Grand Rounds at Froedtert Hospital
Previous Work
• Literary search completed
• Dissected and stored legs for testing
• Learned about the relationships of
the knee between the ligaments,
tendons, bones.
• Sketched and ordered parts for our
device
• Determined dimensions of device to
be built
Designing Factors
• Able to hold onto
quad muscle
• High enough for
tibia/fibula to
swing without
hitting the ground
• Sturdiness
• Easily wiped off
• Allow for full 6
degrees of
movement
• Allow for various
sizes of dog
Current Work
• Ordered and received our parts last
Thursday
• Are waiting to get into the machinist
shop to cut the aluminum down to size
(hopefully today)
• Will build our device
Device Dimensions
• Device: Width/Length 12 inches
Height 18 inches
• Range of Dogs Legs: Approximately
12-16 inches from femur head to end
of tibia
• Ability to hold dog’s legs of all
lengths because of the use of a pipe
Engineering Discussion
• Materials:
Aluminum Tubing
Nylon
Steel Flats/Corners
• Sturdy
• Adjustable to user’s needs, ie more
pipe clamps, varied height for varied
lengths of legs
Future Work
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Complete building
Test dog’s legs in our device
Gather more dog’s legs
Analyze the results and determine
what the differences in movement
are between injured and non-injured
knees