Effect of skin movement artifact on knee kinematics during gait and cutting motions measured in vivo

Eight healthy male subjects had intra-cortical bone-pins inserted into the proximal tibia and distal femur. Three reflective markers were attached to each bone-pin and four reflective markers were mounted on the skin of the tibia and thigh, respectively. Roentgen-stereophotogrammetric analysis (RSA) was used to determine the anatomical reference frame of the tibia and femur. Knee joint motion was recorded during walking and cutting using infrared cameras sampling at 120 Hz. The kinematics derived from the bone-pin markers were compared with that of the skin-markers. Average rotational errors of up to 4.4° and 13.1° and translational errors of up to 13.0 and 16.1 mm were noted for the walk and cut, respectively. Although skin-marker derived kinematics could provide repeatable results this was not representative of the motion of the underlying bones. A standard error of measurement is proposed for the reporting of 3D knee joint kinematics.