Based on CT scanning pictures from a volunteer's knee joint, a three-dimensional finite element model of the healthy human knee joint is constructed including complete femur, tibia, fibular, patellar and the main cartilage and ligaments. This model was validated using experimental and numerical results obtained from other authors. The pressure distribution of contact surfaces of knee joint are calculated and analyzed under the load action of ‘heel strike', ‘single limb stance' and ‘toe-off'. The results of the gait cycle are that the contact areas of medial cartilage are larger than that of lateral cartilage; the contact force and contact areas would grow larger with the load increasing; the pressure of lateral meniscus is steady, relative to the significant variation of peak pressure in medial meniscus; and the peak value of contact pressure on all components are usually found at about 4570 of the gait cycle.
In the present paper, the ground reaction force (GRF) acting on foot in slow squat was determined through a force measuring system, and at the same time, the kinematic data of human squat were obtained by analyzing the photographed image sequences. According to the height and body weight, six healthy volunteers were selected, three men in one group and the other three women in another group, and the fundamental parameters of subjects were recorded, including body weight, height and age, etc. Based on the anatomy characteristics, some markers were placed on the right side of joints. While the subject squatted at slow speed on the force platform, the ground reaction forces on the forefoot and heel for each foot were obtained through calibrated force platform. The analysis results show that the reaction force on heel is greater than that on forefoot, and double feet have nearly constant force. Moreover, from processing and analyzing the synchronously photographed image sequences in squat, the kinematic data of human squat were acquired, including mainly the curves of angle, angular velocity and angular acceleration varied with time for knee, hip and ankle joints in a sagittal plane. The obtained results can offer instructive reference for photographing and analyzing the movements of human bodies, diagnosing some diseases, and establishing in the future appropriate mathematical models for the human motion.