The kinetics of normal and prosthetic wrists.

The purposes of this study were (1) to describe normal wrist kinetics, and (2) to investigate the in-vitro kinetics of four currently available wrist prostheses (Swanson, Meuli, Volz, Hamas). The effective tendon moment arms of the six major wrist muscles were determined through the use of load cells and applied weights. Testing was conducted in a neutral wrist configuration with hand pronation-supination both constrained and unconstrained. The results indicate that each of the muscles studied has a unique set of effective tendon moment arms about the normal wrist as well as about wrists with the implanted prostheses, and that none of the prosthetic wrists studied duplicated normal wrist kinetics.

Cement strain measurement surrounding loose and well-fixed femoral component stems.

Strain measurement within the cement surrounding stemmed total hip femoral components was accomplished using PMMA encapsulated and embedded strain gauges. Cement strain measurement associated with a well-bonded stem-cement interface and an unbonded stem-cement interface (i.e., loose prosthesis) was performed. The presence of a stem-cement bond was found to reduce proximal cement strain magnitudes while having little effect on distal cement strain magnitudes. The assurance of a stem-cement bond on only the proximal third of the interface was found to have an effect similar to that of a complete stem-cement bond. The results of this experimental investigation confirm the theoretical prediction that the stem-cement bond is important in maintaining the integrity of the cement mantle surrounding a stemmed femoral component.