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NARRATOR: Every year there are approximately 270,000 knee replacement operations performed in the United States.
But now, UT Knoxville’s Clare Milner hopes to reduce that number with her research
that aims to reduce the total surgeries required for a single individual.
MILNER: We are interested in the way those people who have had their knee replaced walk after their surgery
and if they don’t get back to a normal walking pattern, is there something we can do to figure out what’s different.
There is some research that says maybe they’re at risk of wearing out their other knee.
NARRATOR: Milner uses the high-tech biomechanics lab at UT Knoxville to measure the gait
of a person after they have undergone a total knee replacement surgery.
Her hope - by simple walking more, patients may actually improve their overall walking pattern
and prevent a surgery on the other knee.
MILNER: After they’re had their surgery, all of the pain they have had in their knee from arthritis
has gone away now, so maybe this is a good time to start being more active.
NARRATOR: Milner gives her research participants pedometers because she’s found that people
are encouraged by the ability to gauge their own progress.
MILNER: We’re looking at increasing the number of steps people walk every day - just gradually -
from wherever that person starts. Being able to increase that to a level
which is hopefully going to benefit not only just getting more steps
but start to benefit things like their overall health.
NARRATOR: By utilizing the same motion-capture technology used in Hollywood films,
Milner is able to record the way people walk by placing small silver markers on her research participants.
MILNER: Those little markers, just small silver balls, they allow our research cameras to pick up the movement.
They’re not like a normal video camera, they just record where they see the silver balls.
NARRATOR: The sensors are so sensitive that they can record the angles of leg movement
to an accuracy of one-tenth of a degree at 240 times per second.
These numbers help Milner understand a person’s gait.
MILNER: So when we process this data, you can see here are all of those same markers
attached to the different body segments. And now that has been used
to recreate this skeleton to represent the body of the person who is walking.
NARRATOR: Although Milner’s research is still in the early stages, she has good reason to hope
that by getting patients to walk more, she will help them improve their overall walking pattern
and reduce the risk of another knee surgery as well.