THE USE OF A UNIVERSAL FORCE-MOMENT SENSOR TO DETERMINE IN-SITU FORCES IN LIGAMENTS - A NEW METHODOLOGY

Determination of ligament forces is an integral part of understanding their contribution during motion and external loading of an intact joi nt. While almost all previous investigations have reported only the ma gnitude of tension, this alone cannot adequately describe the function of a particular ligament. An alternalive approach to determine the in -situ forces in ligaments has been developed which utilizes a universa l force-moment sensor in conjunction with a force transformation schem e. In addition to providing the magnitude of ligament force, the direc tion and point of application of this in-situ force can also be determ ined Further, the approach does not require mechanical contact with th e ligament. Application of this new methodology is demonstrated for th e human anterior cruciate ligament in the present study (n = 7) althou gh it may be similarly applied to other ligaments at the knee or in ot her synovial joints of the human body.