The knee joint is one of the most complicated joints in the human body. Fundamental knowledge about kinematics is essentially important in order to design knee prostheses which are functionally similar to the knee joint. In addition, the prosthesis should carry out similar kinematics, since only the geometrical resemblance is insufficient. As an initial step, an experimental apparatus, a test protocol and an evaluation method were developed which allows the investigation of the human knee joint kinematics. Based on the results of multiple experiments, a reference function was determined, which provides guidance on how the flexion-rotation function in the human knee joint can be described. The function also provides reference about the kinematics which should be defined in the design of prostheses, and to what extent does an arbitrary knee prosthesis follows the required kinematics. The definition of knee rotation is reported in this article. 

DOI: 10.17489/biohun/2013/1/31