title: Quantitative test of knee laxity in Chinese.
abstract: Anterior knee laxity of 100 Chinese male subjects who had no history of previous injuries to their knees was examined with an instrumented knee arthrometer (MEDmetric Knee Arthrometer, model KT-1000). Two measurements were used to evaluate the anterior laxity: 1) anterior displacement produced by anterior force of 89 newtons (20 lbs); and 2) anterior compliance index (ACI), the displacement difference between an anterior force of 89 newtons (20 lbs) and 67 newtons (15 lbs). All knees were examined at a flexion angle of 20 +/- 5 degrees and an external tibial rotation of 10 +/- 5 degrees with the use of thigh and foot supports. The mean anterior displacement for the right and left knee were 4.5 +/- 2.0 mm and 4.3 +/- 1.9 mm, respectively, while 84% of the study subjects had right and left differences (anterior displacement difference, ADD) of less than 2 mm. The anterior compliance index was 0.85 +/- 0.4 mm for the right knee and 0.78 +/- 0.33 mm for the left knee. The mean anterior compliance index difference (CID), that is the difference between the right and left ACI, was 0.25 +/- 0.3 mm. A total of 93% of the subjects had a difference in the right-left CID of less than 0.5 mm. Variation between the right and left knee does exist, but the difference is not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Therefore, comparison of the right-left ADD and CID can be a useful reference in the assessment of a ligamentous injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, R.O.C.
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Hang
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Fung
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D007593:Joint Instability / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values