FEA of the Tibial Post of a Knee Prosthesis

Tibial post failure has been reported in several retrieval studies for knee surgeries using posterior-stabilized (PS) prostheses. Fractures of the tibial post are considered to be caused by high stress-induced destruction (bending and tensile forces). The design of polyethylene inserts requires a certain level of plastic deformation to take place without the risk of deformation. The design of the tibial post varies markedly among manufacturers.

In the present study, Simpleware ScanIP and LS-DYNA software were used to examine the mechanical forces in operation in the tibial post in three different commercially available knee prostheses. The purpose of the study was to use FEA to find the safest tibial post design (i.e., the optimal shape, length, width, and height) using the same load conditions.

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