Shock absorption of meniscectomized and painful knees: a comparative in vivo study

The principles of a noninvasive measurement of the shock absorbing capacity of the knee are presented. Accelerometry, which has been proven to be a useful tool for noninvasive measurements in biomechanical investigation, was employed for quantitative evaluation of the knee's shock absorbing capacity by registration of bone vibrations resulting from the gait. Results of the experiments show that both patients with painful knee and patients after meniscectomy suffer from insufficient shock absorbing capacity of the knee. It was found that the shock absorbing capacity of a normal knee is about 20% higher than that of a pathological one. The results indicate that while meniscectomy may reduce pain, instability, swelling, etc. in an injured knee, it cannot improve its reduced shock absorbing capacity, which eventually will lead to development of degenerative osteoarthritis. It seems that the pain syndrome is a biological reaction to severe repetitive overloading of the knee. Noninvasive in vivo determination of the knee's shock absorbing properties may be useful as an additional clinical technique to reveal a knee's pathology. It may lead to early discovery of knee insufficiency, so that preventive steps can be taken to delay or reverse the process of degeneration.