In vivo measurements of the loading conditions on the tibia of the goat

In vivo strain measurements at 8 locations on the tibia of the goat were performed. Successive in vitro calibrations were used to determine the assumed linear relationship between the measured strain signals and the external loads (3 forces and 3 moments) at the tibia. For the reconstruction of the in vivo external loads from the strain data, a transformation matrix was created from the calibration experiments, using 'singular-value decomposition'. The method is a reliable technique for measuring in vivo loads during functional gait and gives reproducible results.