Anthropometric measurements of the knee: time to make it fit

Excerpt

Anthropometry is the study of the measurement of the human body in terms of the dimensions of bone, muscle and adipose tissue. The word derives from a composition of the Greek words anthropos or “man” and metron or “measure”. It is a science which measures the range of body sizes within populations. Therefore, anthropometry plays a vital role in industrial design, clothing design, ergonomics and architecture whereby the statistical data gathered with respect to the distribution of body dimensions in a population are used to optimize product development. The most commonly studied parameters are human height, weight, organs and finally human aesthetics. For most of the parameters, it is understandable that there will be morphologic differences between different ethnic groups. Obviously, there is a difference in size between the Asian and European populations. Asians require smaller component sizes in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The correct fit of the Duracon^®, Scorpio^®, NexGen^®, PFC-Sigma^® and the UKnee^® was studied in the Asian population by Jia-kuo et al. [12]. Mediolateral undersizing was found for the smaller implants, but overhang in the larger sizes. …