Apparatus and method for evaluating knee geometry

1. A method of evaluating a human knee joint which includes a femur bone, a tibia bone, a patella bone, and ligaments, wherein the ligaments are under anatomical tension to connect the femur and tibia together, creating a load-bearing articulating joint, the method comprising:

inserting into the knee joint a gap balancer that includes a tibial interface surface, an opposed femoral interface surface, an array of tibial force sensors disposed on the tibial interface surface, and an array of femoral force sensors disposed on the femoral interface surface;

providing an electronic receiving device;

moving the knee joint through at least a portion of its range of motion;

while moving the knee joint, using the electronic receiving device to collect data from the at least one force sensor, wherein the data includes information from the array of tibial force sensors and the array of femoral force sensors;

processing the collected data to produce a digital geometric model of at least a portion of the knee joint; and

storing the digital geometric model for further use.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the arrays of force sensors has at least a two-axis array resolution.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein each of the two-axis arrays lies on a non-planar surface.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the gap balancer includes one or more individual devices, each of the one or more individual devices placed within a single compartment of the knee joint.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

computing one or more tool paths passing through the knee joint;

coupling at least one tracking marker to the knee joint;

receiving data representing an actual position and orientation of a tool relative to the at least one tracking marker;

moving a tool along the one or more tool paths, with reference to the data, so as to remove bone from the knee joint, thereby forming a machined feature in the knee joint.

6. The method of claim 1 further including using a force sensor to collect data from the interface surface between the patella and the femur.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the force sensor also produces position or displacement data.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising force and displacement data being shown graphically to a user.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

connecting at least one position tracking sensor directly or indirectly to the knee joint;

collecting position data from the position tracking sensor while moving the knee joint; and,

using the position data and the force data to produce the geometric model.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the patella remains in its native anatomical position during all steps of the method.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising using the gap balancer to distract the knee joint.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the distraction is carried out by:

inserting the gap balancer between the tibia and the femur, with the gap balancer in a retracted position; and

moving the gap balancer towards an extended position, so as to urge the tibia and the femur apart and apply tension to ligaments of the knee joint.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the data is compiled in a database and learning system.