TheDEsignofadeviceusedtoholdaleginordertoanalyzekneemovement.docVIP

The DEsign of a device used to hold a leg in order to analyze knee movement BME 273 Kelly Braun Tera George April 27, 1999 ABSTRACT The management of any disorder of the knee must begin with an understanding of the basic properties and functions of the joint. It is critical to know the physiologic processes and the biomechanics of the knee in order to appropriately evaluate and treat any problem. The ligamentous structure of the knee guides the motion of the knee through six independent degrees of freedom, three translational and three rotational. The injury analyzed was that of an injured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), the most common of knee joint injuries in athletes. This goal was accomplished by first designing and building some sort of device which would hold onto the femur of the leg and allow unconstrained movement of the knee joint from flexion to extension. During the engineering process, dog legs were gathered to use in the device. A specification important to this design was the need for adjustability. The desired goal was to be able to place different size legs in the device since the dog’s legs used were between 12-16 inches. To begin the design process, a literary search was performed and information was gathered on the knee joint. After the sketches were perfected and discussed, the parts were ordered and delivered, thus beginning the building process. During the building process, problems arose with the design and materials and immediately the re-engineering began. The final result was the device. The device was tested by potting a dog’s leg and placing it in the device. The device accurately held onto the leg and allowed unrestrained movement of the knee. In terms of the safety of the device, this proved a trivial matter. Further testing of the device is going to be performed by Dr. Dawson using the Optotrak Motion Sensing System. Dr. Dawson will be able to go on and learn about the movement of injured knees in hopes of applying