oa Dynamic analysis for the integrity assessment of knee joint

Abstract: The largest and complicated joint in human body is knee joint. It is a pivotal hinge type joint which permits flexion and extension with a slight medial and lateral rotation as well. As it receives the whole body weight, it is vulnerable to both acute injury and the development of osteoarthritis. Integrity analysis of knee joint involves a detail study of several anatomical parts such as bones, cartilage, tendons etc. Moreover, the stability of motor strategies (muscle recruitment patterns) influences the integrity analysis of knee joint as the patellar instability along with many other reasons causes the pain in patellofemoral joint, especially when the joint is overloaded or aged. The disorderness or damage of these anatomical parts causes several knee diseases, particularly, the incidence of knee osteoarthritis (OA) increases with age due to some damages in cartilage, increased stiffness of ligaments or reduced quality and quantity of synovial fluid. Acoustic emission (AE) technique has been using, although, for several damage evaluation of materials in industrial applications, the signal processing of AE technique has been applied for evaluating the disorderness of knee joint as well in this paper. The present investigation, particularly, focuses on the dynamical behavioral characterization of knee joint for its integrity analysis with several non-destructive imaging conditions. Elecromyographic (EMG) patterns for particular motor strategy during dynamic movements of knee joint have been investigated as well. AE signals have been collected from different positions of tibia, patella, and femur for getting sufficient information about the condition of cartilage of knee joint. Results show the significant effects of increasing individuals' ages to increase knee joint problems. Keywords: AE technique, Non-destructive evaluation, Integrity analysis, Knee joint, Osteoarthritis.