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Explicit Finite Element Modeling Of Knee Mechanics During Simulated Dynamic Activities, Mark A. Baldwin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The natural knee is one of the most commonly injured joints in the body due to relatively high loads and motions that can lead to debilitating degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis. Total knee arthroplasty is a clinically successful method for eliminating pain in the osteoarthritic knee, but is subject to complications that can affect patient satisfaction and long-term implant performance. The work presented in this dissertation is a demonstration of how anatomic three-dimensional (3D) computational knee models can be an effective alternative for investigating knee mechanics when compared to the cost and time prohibitive nature of in-vivo and in-vitro methods. …