Biomechanics and Motion Analysis

Tibiofemoral Load Distribution During Gait of Normal Subjects

Principal Investigator: Kenton R. Kaufman, Ph.D.

Figure 18: Average total loads experienced at the knee for stair and level gait.

Instrumented gait analysis has become a standard method of precisely analyzing movement. Current gait analysis methods report the intersegmental forces and moments at the joint center. However, the internal loading environment is only implied from the external forces. The purpose of this study was to analyze the knee force distributions during gait for normal individuals using a validated tibio-femoral model that includes subject-specific geometry and gait inputs.

An average peak load of 2.4±0.2 times body weight (xBW) was found for level walking, 3.7±0.6 xBW for ascending stairs, and 3.4±0.4 xBW for descending stairs (Figure 18). Previous models have calculated slightly higher peak loads at the knee. None of these studies used subject-specific geometry in their computations as the present study does.

Table 1: Force distribution (% total load) on the medial plateau at the maximum load for level and stair walking (n=17)

The medial-lateral distribution was calculated and a higher medial load was found for level walking than for the stair walking (Table 1). Medial-lateral distributions during stair gait have not been calculated before.

Continuing analysis will look at gender differences. Gathering specific information on about internal knee load during gait and may lead to improved understanding and treatment of the degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis.