Alterations in knee contact forces and centers in stance phase of gait: A detailed lower extremity musculoskeletal model

TF joint contact forces are greater on the lateral plateau very early in stance and on the medial plateau thereafter during 25-100% stance periods. Large excursions in the location of CC (>17 mm), especially on the medial plateau in the mediolateral direction, are computed. Various reported models estimate quite different CCs with much greater variations (~15 mm) in the mediolateral direction on both plateaus. Compared to our accurately computed CCs taken as the gold standard, the centroid of contact area algorithm yielded least differences (except in the mediolateral direction on the medial plateau at ~5 mm) whereas the contact point and weighted center of proximity algorithms resulted overall in greatest differences. Large movements in the location of CC should be considered when attempting to estimate TF compartmental contact forces in gait.