Knee stiffness and viscosity: New implementation and perspectives in prosthesis development

The pendulum test is a method applied to measure passive resistance of the knee. A new and simple pendulum test with instrumentation based on infrared camera was used to evaluate knee stiffness and viscosity on a female human cadaver. The stiffness and viscosity were calculated based on the kinetic data. During the measurements, the periarticular and intraarticular soft tissue of the knee was gradually removed to determine the stiffness and viscosity as a function of the tissue removal rate. The measurements showed that the removal of tissue around the joint reduces the damping of leg oscillation, and therefore decreases the stiffness and viscosity. The contribution to knee joint damping was 10% for the skin, 20% for ligaments, and 40% for muscles and tendons. Tissue removal has a very large impact on the knee stiffness and viscosity.