Gender differences in trochlear groove orientation and rotational kinematics of human knees

Knowledge of the morphology and kinematics of the male and female knees is important for understanding gender‐related dimorphism in knee pathology and improvement of related surgical treatments. Twelve male and 12 female subjects with healthy knees were recruited, and each subject performed a single...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of orthopaedic research 2009-07, Vol.27 (7), p.871-878
Main Authors: Varadarajan, Kartik M., Gill, Thomas J., Freiberg, Andrew A., Rubash, Harry E., Li, Guoan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biomechanical Phenomena
Female
Femur - anatomy & histology
Femur - diagnostic imaging
Femur - physiology
Fluoroscopy
gender difference
Humans
Imaging, Three-Dimensional
Knee Injuries - pathology
Knee Injuries - physiopathology
Knee Joint - anatomy & histology
Knee Joint - diagnostic imaging
Knee Joint - physiology
knee kinematics
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Range of Motion, Articular - physiology
Rotation
Sex Characteristics
Tibia - anatomy & histology
Tibia - diagnostic imaging
Tibia - physiology
trochlear orientation
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Knowledge of the morphology and kinematics of the male and female knees is important for understanding gender‐related dimorphism in knee pathology and improvement of related surgical treatments. Twelve male and 12 female subjects with healthy knees were recruited, and each subject performed a single leg lunge while images of the knee were recorded by two fluoroscopes. Tibiofemoral joint motion was then reproduced using bony models matched to the fluoroscopic images. Femoral trochlear groove orientation was also measured in each knee. While many of the measured parameters were found to be similar between the genders, a few interesting differences were also noted. Females showed greater external tibial rotation at 0° flexion (−5.4° vs. −1.3 °, p = 0.03), smaller internal rotation at 30° flexion (1.7° vs. 6.4°, p = 0.04) and greater range of tibial rotation (18.2° vs. 12.4°, p = 0.01) compared to males. Female knees also had a more medially oriented proximal trochlear groove (10.0° vs. 4.5°, p = 0.04). These gender differences in rotational kinematics and trochlear groove orientation may warrant further studies to determine implications for surgical treatments such as total knee arthroplasty, and gender‐related dimorphism in certain knee injuries and pathologies, like anterior cruciate ligament injury and patellofemoral problems. © 2009 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 27: 871–878, 2009
ISSN:0736-0266
1554-527X
DOI:10.1002/jor.20844