Contact stresses in both compartments of the tibiofemoral joint are similar even when larger forces are applied to the medial compartment.

While the distribution of forces in the tibiofemoral joint indicates increased medial compartment loading during most weight-bearing activities, little is known of the contact stresses that arise in each of the compartments. Contact stresses are obtained from normalising force to contact area and hence provide more useful information in determining the true safety factor of loading in a joint or material. This study uses thin-film pressure sensors to obtain stresses in the medial and lateral compartments of cadaver knees compressed to physiological relevant levels of loading. The results indicated a significant correlation between contact force and area such that even while the force applied to both compartments of human cadaver knees are distributed differentially, the average stresses calculated are not different between compartments.