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Background
Partial knee implants, so called Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty (UKA) have developed into standardized operating techniques. This procedure is conducted in the presence of localized osteoarthritis in the knee joint (mostly medial condyle) with the main goal of pain relief and improvement of joint function. Reproducing the kinematics of the healthy knee is thought to be beneficial. Thus the balance between stability and mobility is crucial to provide patients with a naturally feeling knee joint.
Objective
The primary objective is to quantify and describe the three-dimensional kinematics for patients with a traditional medial UKA (intact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)) during daily activities, such as sitting onto a chair, deep knee bend, level walking, downhill walking (ramp descent) and stair descent, by means of video-fluoroscopy. The secondary objective is to evaluate an alternative treatment option for patients with the same medial UKA implant in an ACL deficient knee and altered surgical technique.
Methods
Video-fluoroscopy, optical motion capture and measurements of ground reaction forces during dynamic motion tasks are taken at the movement analysis laboratory of the Institute for Biomechanics at ETH Zürich. Study with approximately 10 subjects with traditional medial UKA and 10 ACL deficient subjects with medial UKA. Post-operative recruitment and evaluation of joint kinematics.
Work
The student will be involved in data collection of patients in the motion lab, analyzing data and writing reports. For the overall scope of the project a strong interest in biomechanics and kinematic understanding is essential. Further, some programming skills are needed for the data analysis using MatLab. Ideally the student will be committed for the duration of the whole project; however, master thesis and internship/practicum can be either combined or separated.
Timeline
The project will start as soon as a suitable candidate is found and run for up to 8 months.
While there is no salary for the master thesis or practicum, depending on the work permission (visa) there could be an opportunity to seek part-time employment doing data processing for this study (matching of images).
Contact
If you are interested in this opportunity for a master thesis at ETH Zurich, please send a motivational letter and resume:
Institute for Biomechanics, ETH Zurich
Thomas Zumbrunn
tz@hest.ethz.ch
Partial knee implants, so called Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty (UKA) have developed into standardized operating techniques. This procedure is conducted in the presence of localized osteoarthritis in the knee joint (mostly medial condyle) with the main goal of pain relief and improvement of joint function. Reproducing the kinematics of the healthy knee is thought to be beneficial. Thus the balance between stability and mobility is crucial to provide patients with a naturally feeling knee joint.
Objective
The primary objective is to quantify and describe the three-dimensional kinematics for patients with a traditional medial UKA (intact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)) during daily activities, such as sitting onto a chair, deep knee bend, level walking, downhill walking (ramp descent) and stair descent, by means of video-fluoroscopy. The secondary objective is to evaluate an alternative treatment option for patients with the same medial UKA implant in an ACL deficient knee and altered surgical technique.
Methods
Video-fluoroscopy, optical motion capture and measurements of ground reaction forces during dynamic motion tasks are taken at the movement analysis laboratory of the Institute for Biomechanics at ETH Zürich. Study with approximately 10 subjects with traditional medial UKA and 10 ACL deficient subjects with medial UKA. Post-operative recruitment and evaluation of joint kinematics.
Work
The student will be involved in data collection of patients in the motion lab, analyzing data and writing reports. For the overall scope of the project a strong interest in biomechanics and kinematic understanding is essential. Further, some programming skills are needed for the data analysis using MatLab. Ideally the student will be committed for the duration of the whole project; however, master thesis and internship/practicum can be either combined or separated.
Timeline
The project will start as soon as a suitable candidate is found and run for up to 8 months.
While there is no salary for the master thesis or practicum, depending on the work permission (visa) there could be an opportunity to seek part-time employment doing data processing for this study (matching of images).
Contact
If you are interested in this opportunity for a master thesis at ETH Zurich, please send a motivational letter and resume:
Institute for Biomechanics, ETH Zurich
Thomas Zumbrunn
tz@hest.ethz.ch