Abstract:

BACKGROUND: The understanding of the knee biomechanical properties is critical to understand the design and operative principles of the knee prosthesis.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize the relationship between peripheral mechanics environment and biomechanics of the knee joint, and to investigate the stability and injury mechanism of the knee joint.
METHODS: The CNKI database and PubMed database (1998-01/2011-08) were used to search the related articles about biomechanics of the knee joint. The keywords of “knee joints, ligament, meniscus, cartilage, biomechanical” in English and Chinese were put into the title and the abstract to search the articles. The articles that related to the biomechanics of the knee joint were selected, and for the articles in the same field, those published recently or in the authorized journals were selected. There were 163 articles after the initial survey. Then 25 articles related to biomechanics of the knee joint were selected to review.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The stability of the knee joint relies on the articular bone, and also depends on the constraints of the anterior and posterior cruciate ligament, the balance of internal and external collateral ligament and extensor mechanism, as well as the power balance of quadriceps and hamstrings, especially depends on the balancing and stabilizing effect of the internal and external collateral ligament. It indicates that the anatomical environment of the knee joint determines the complexity of the knee joint in the biomechanical properties of loading, action and stability. Therefore, understanding the physiological structure and anatomical characteristics of the knee joint is of benefits to study the biomechanical characteristics of the knee joint, and that is important to study the pain, injury and tissue engineering of the knee joint.