In Vitro Measurement of the Restraining Role of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament During Walking and Stair Ascent

The study aimed to test the hypothesis that the restraining role of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of the knee is significant during the activities of normal walking and stair ascent. The role of the ACL was determined from the effect of ACL excision on tibiofemoral displacement patterns measured in vitro for fresh-frozen knee specimens subjected to simulated knee kinetics of walking (n=12) and stair ascent (n=7). The knee kinetics were simulated using a newly developed dynamic simulator able to replicate the sagittal-plane knee kinetics with reasonable accuracy while ensuring unconstrained tibiofemoral kinematics. The displacements were measured using a calibrated six degree-of-freedom electromechanical goniometer. For the simulation of the walking cycle, two types of knee flexion/extension moment patterns were used: the more common “biphasic” pattern, and an extensor muscle force intensive pattern. For both of these patterns, the restraining role of the ACL to tibial anterior translation was found to be significant throughout the stance phase and in the terminal swing phase, when the knee angle was in the range of 4° to 30°. The effect of ACL excision was an increase in tibial anterior translation by 4 mm to 5 mm. For the stair ascent cycle, however, the restraining role of the ACL was significant only during the terminal stance phase, and not during the initial and middle segments of the phase. Although, in these segments, the knee moments were comparable to that in walking, the knee angle was in the range of 60° to 70°. These results have been shown to be consistent with available data on knee mechanics and ACL function measured under static loading conditions.