[Compressive loads on the human knee joint (author's transl)].

A total of five human knee joints fixed in formalin were available from the 1975/76 dissection course at the Anatomical Institute in Rostock. The different joints where loaded while bent at rightangles (Fig. 1). The maximum load varied between 280 and 400 kp. The length reductions at the compression fracture load were between 5.3 and 10.5 mm. The curves shown beyond the fracture region in Fig. 2 result from the reconsolidation of the fractured bone as an additional elastic region. Bone is generally regarded as a completely elastic material. The load range prior to fracture can probably be considered as elastic in the sense defined by Hooke's law; the curves are correspondingly approximately linear. This also applies to our knee joints, which require a system approach.