|
|
Article: Wireless knees.(Technology Spotlight)
- Article from:
- Designfax
- Article date:
- April 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Nelson Publishing. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Last month, at the Scripps Clinic in Southern California, a patient received a full artificial knee replacement capable of transmitting real-time data back to computers during normal activities such as stair climbing, rising from a chair and walking. This data will provide information on the total amount and the distribution of the forces across the human knee in vivo. The results of this analysis can be used to develop design improvements, refine surgical instrumentation, guide postoperative physical therapy, and potentially detect the individual activities that would overload the implant. Telemetry has already been applied to measure forces in hip, spine and femur, but ...