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Introduction
If you've ever had a severe knee injury or read about one, you're likely familiar with an account like the following: "I moved in the wrong way, I heard a pop, and then I felt the pain." The knee, like pretty much all other joints in our body, is held together...
Materials needed
For this activity you’ll need: The worksheet for this activity (either opened in a PDF viewer on a desktop/tablet computer or printed out). A Human Knee Active Learning Kit (Basic or Full model). You do not need any of the muscles for this activity o...
Normal vs abnormal motions of the knee
To understand the functions of the knee ligaments, how they get injured, and how their injury would cause abnormal/unstable knee motions, you first need to make sure you can recognize normal motions of the knee. So, you'll first practice simulating the normal ...
Simulating ligament injuries through a knock-out experiment
Now that you're familiar with the normal motions of the knee, you're ready to knock out some ligaments. On page 1 of the activity worksheet, you'll find a table. There's a row for each of the motions that you practiced in the previous step and a column for eac...
Connecting knee ligament functions to knee injuries
Take a look at the table you completed table of knee ligament knock-out experiments and outcomes from page 1 of the activity worksheet. You now have a fairly complete picture of how the ligaments of the knee limit particular motions, the motions that would inj...
References cited
The following articles/books are references cited in this activity: Andrews, K., Lu, A., Mckean, L., & Ebraheim, N. (2017). Medial collateral ligament injuries. Journal of orthopaedics, 14(4), 550-554. DOI: 10.1016/j.jor.2017.07.017. Cristiani, R., van de ...
Activity at a glance
Time to complete Approximately 2-2.5 hours Age level Advanced high school, College, or Professional school Bloom's level(s) BL3 - Apply BL4 - Analyze BL5 - Evaluate Learning objective After completing this activity, student...
About the kit, viewing answer key, purchasing kits, and more
Activity Worksheet (PDF)
Introduction
Have you ever seen videos of early generations of humanoid, walking robots? Designed by expert engineers, with thousands of dollars worth of tech and an equal investment of time in designing and troubleshooting, these robots nevertheless found the simple task ...
Materials needed
For this activity you’ll need: The worksheet for this activity (either opened in a PDF viewer on a desktop/tablet computer or printed out). A Human Knee Active Learning Kit (Basic or Full model). You do not need any of the muscles for this activity o...
Clamping your knee kit
To perform manual muscle simulations with your knee kit, it's easier to secure your kit to a surface like a tabletop. This will free up your hands to be able to attach and pull the manual muscle cords. Start by setting the bracket along an edge or at a corn...
Simulating muscle co-contraction
Now that the femur of your knee kit is fixed in place, you're ready to start simulating various patterns of muscle contraction to see these affect the knee joint and the motion of the tibia. An extensor driving motion on its own Attaching a manual muscle cor...
References cited
The following articles/books are references cited in this activity: Thoma, L. M., Grindem, H., Logerstedt, D., Axe, M., Engebretsen, L., Risberg, M. A., & Snyder-Mackler, L. (2019). Coper classification early after ACL rupture changes with progressive neuro...
Activity at a glance
Time to complete Approximately 2-2.5 hours Age level Advanced high school, College, or Professional school Bloom's level(s) BL3 - Analyze BL4 - Analyze BL5 - Evaluate Learning objective After completing this activity, stude...
About the kit, viewing answer key, purchasing kits, and more
Attaching the patellar ligament to the tibia
To attach the patellar ligament to the tibia, follow the steps in the video below. Be sure that the patella is oriented such that when the patellar ligament is attached and the patella "flipped up," the patellar cartilage is oriented toward the joint and other...
Attaching the elastic muscle cords
Each of the elastic muscle cords ("muscles") in your kit connects to two attachment sites (an origin and an insertion) and represents a line of action for a muscle. To attach a muscle, you just need to know how to the cord ends to one of the three possible att...
Attaching the manual muscle cords
If you have a basic or full knee kit model, your kit comes with "manual muscle cords." These cords act like puppet strings, enabling you to simulate a shortening muscle by attaching the cord to a muscle attachment site and pulling on it. These cords are nonela...
Detaching the manual muscle cords
Detach the manual muscle cords by following the steps shown in the video or listed out below. Video showing how to detach manual muscles cords from a quadriceps tendon clip (first half) and from a bone surface attachment site (second half). You might find ...