Assessment of a knee resistance by applying the computational methods

Abstract

In tennis, the complex serving motions produce high mechanical stresses on player's musculoskeletal, tendon and ligament joints. In this paper, different cognitive methods have been integrated in order to non-invasively assess the knee's bone and cartilage resistance at the maximum power tennis serve. The proposed methodology is based on the creation of patientspecific biomechanical model, as well as on the tracking the knee's kinematics, ground force measurement, inverse dynamics modelling and analysis of the knee using the Finite Element Method with aim to assess the knee resistance of a tennis player, considering acute deformations and potential injuries. The main objective of this paper is development of the optimised computational technology and creation of practical diagnostic tool for non-invasive assessment of the knee function during specific moves and motions in tennis. It is expected that this approach can provide prediction and injury prevention in training and competitive tennis to a significant extent.

Keywords

• non-invasive diagnostics
• prediction of knee injury
• biomechanical model
• inverse dynamics
• tennis