Recent advances in biomedical engineering software have opened a new chapter on high performance knee implants.
One remarkable breakthrough has been the creation of the JOURNEY II BCS knee, a second-generation knee replacement that combines the stability and natural motion of the human knee with new low-friction materials that may extend the life of the implant.
While the lifespan of a knee implant is heavily influenced by the materials used to make it, the natural feeling of the implant during physical activity is dependent upon the way the patient’s muscles, ligaments and tendons are addressed during surgery and by the implant’s shape within the body after surgery.
As discussed previously in this booklet, the knee is a hinge joint, but it does not swing like a simple door hinge. It has a complex rotational motion that you don’t notice is there – but many patients know when it’s not there after total knee replacement. Traditional implants attempt to recreate this subtle swing-and-rotate action with either a rotating platform (a simple pivot point) within the implant or by requiring an angled alignment of the implant during surgery.
With these traditional knee replacement designs, the muscles and ligaments around your new joint have to work harder because the implant’s slightly unnatural shapes and resulting motion make these soft tissues move in unfamiliar, stressful ways. This leads to joint pain, muscle fatigue and the unnatural feeling patients experience while walking or bending in the months after their procedure.
The JOURNEY II BCS knee, on the other hand, is designed to reproduce the original internal shapes and angled forces of the human knee through its full range of motion – accommodating the swing-and-rotate of the joint with the same engineering principles your real knee currently uses. Because of this, your soft tissues don’t have to readjust to new shapes and forces after surgery and your stride can return to its natural rhythm.
The JOURNEY II BCS knee also reproduces the stability provided by your anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and your posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). Your ACL and PCL are key to the stability of your real joint and contribute to natural motion when your knee is fully extended and fully bent. No other knee implant reproduces both functions.