Pilot study using Oxford Rig, customized METALAB program, and Vicon system to study the stifle joint

Abstract

Knee joint kinematics and kinetics are studied by applying external forces and displacements using an Oxford Rig; a device which holds and moves human knee joints. In this study, a modified Oxford Rig was developed and tested that allowed the study of canine stifle (knee) joints and their artificial replacements. Chicken and turkey legs were used to develop the Rig.

Following these experiments, a new UGA/Oxford Rig was developed which allows for an intact leg system. This allowed for movement of the hip and hock (ankle) joints, which are no longer replicated by artificial means.

Customized software was developed that permitted output from a 3D motion analysis system to be transferred into joint angles for each frame of data collected. This involved moving from global to local coordinate systems for each leg bone, working with virtual (redundant) markers, and finding three different angles of movement that occur during stifle flexion.