The Influence of Soft Tissue Balancing on Postoperative In Vivo Tibiofemoral Contact Kinematics in Total Knee Arthroplasty
Abstract
We performed a prospective imaging study to investigate whether there are differences in in vivotibiofemoral contact kinematics between patients that received minimal amounts of medial soft tissue balancing and patients that required more extensive balancing during total knee arthroplasty. At 100°of flexion, patients that received extensive release had more anterior tibiofemoral contact on the lateral condyle (mean difference = 1.77 mm, p=0.02). No other statistically significant differences in tibiofemoral contact positions or excursions on the medial or lateral condyles were found throughout flexion from 0°to 120°. Postoperative patient-reported outcome scores were not different. Correcting severe varus deformities with extensive medial soft tissue release largely did not alter patients’ tibiofemoral contact kinematics or clinical outcome scores compared to those with minimal soft tissue release.