The effect of meniscus on the knee joints

In this study, the authors investigated the effect of meniscus on the knee joints. Tests have been carried out using rabbit knees in-vitro conditions. Tests were done with a load of 12 kg. It was found that, the contact areas of knee joints not having meniscus were decreased by a factor of 1/2-1/3, Meniscus absorbs most of the energy coming to the knee joints. Experiments performed with meniscus and without meniscus revealed that elastic modulus of knee joints with meniscus is smaller than that of knee joints not having a meniscus. To measure contact areas and contact stresses in the knee joints Prescala films were used. For biomechanical and physiological characterization optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and an Instron Universal Test Machine were utilized