Effect of anterior–posterior and internal–external motion restraint during knee wear simulation on a posterior stabilised knee design

Abstract The objective of our study was to examine the effect of biphaseal AP translation and IE rotation restraint, using a system defined specifically for posterior stabilised knee designs, on wear, kinematics and particle release in comparison to linear motion restraint as required by the established ISO 14243-1:2002(E) protocol. In the ISOlinear groups, an AP motion restraint of 30 N/mm and an IE rotation restraint of 0.6 Nm/° were applied in the knee wear simulation. In the ISOgap biphaseal groups with PCL sacrificing implants, the restraining AP force was zero in a ±2.5 mm range with, externally, a constant of 9.3 N/mm applied proportionally to the AP translation of the tibia plateau, whereas the restraining IE torque was zero in a ±6° range with, externally, a constant of 0.13 Nm/° applied proportionally to the IE rotation of the tibia plateau. Using the ISOgap biphaseal protocol on a posterior stabilised knee design, we found an increase of 41% in AP translation and of 131% in IE rotation, resulting in a 3.2-fold higher wear rate compared to the results obtained using the ISOlinear protocol. Changes in AP translation and IE rotation ligament motion restraints have a high impact on knee joint kinematics and wear behaviour of a fixed bearing posterior stabilised knee design.