The design and development of a finger joint simulator

Abstract

Artificial finger joints lack the long-term clinical success seen with hip and knee prostheses. In part, this can be explained by the challenges of rheumatoid arthritis, a progressive disease which attacks surrounding tissues as well as the joint itself. Therefore, the natural finger joints’ biomechanics are adversely affected, and consequently, this imbalance due to subluxing forces further challenges any prosthesis. Many different designs of finger prosthesis have been offered over a period of greater than 50 years. Most of these designs have failed, and it is likely that many of these failures could have been identified had the prostheses been appropriately tested prior to implantation into patients. While finger joint simulators have been designed, arguably only those from a single centre have been able to reproduce clinical-type failures of the finger prostheses tested in them. This article describes the design and development of a finger simulator at Durham University, UK. It explains and justifies the engineering decisions made and thus the evolution of the finger simulator. In vitro results and their linkage to clinical-type failures are outlined to help to show the effectiveness of the simulator. Failures of finger implants in vivo continue to occur, and the need for appropriate in vitro testing of finger prostheses remains strong.