[24]. The neutral knee position was defined as a relationship
between the thigh and the leg in the anatomical position
[25]. The telescopic block was placed in parallel to an
imaginary line between the head of the fibula and the lateral
malleolus. The fixed end-block was placed in parallel
to an imaginary line between the greater trochanter and
the lateral condyle of the femur. In the neutral knee position,
the electrogoniometer was set at zero degrees and
this was confirmed with a hand held goniometer. To prevent
slippage during knee joint motion, the end-blocks
were adhered to the test leg with double sided adhesive
tape and further secured in place with adhesive tape. Electrogoniometer
readings recorded knee joint angular displacements
relative to zero.
The knee joint was measured in three different testing
positions – neutral and two flexion positions (designated
knee flexion position 1 and knee flexion position 2). For
measuring the neutral knee position, participants were
asked to stand facing away from the wall at a distance
where their calves remained touching the vertical wooden
board. They were instructed to straighten their knee from
a flexed position to lightly touch the calf against the
board. For measurements of knee joint flexion, each participant
stood facing a vertical wooden board. Two standardised
heel placements with distances of 13.5
centimetres and 22.5 centimetres from the board enabled
measurement of two different knee flexion angles (Figure
2). These were average distances obtained from our pilot
study on people with different heights, who could perform
the task without compensation at the hip joint or the
trunk. Participants were asked to bend their knee so as to
lightly touch the board in front of the knee, while maintaining
contact of their heels on the ground. The participants
were also asked to keep their back straight to
minimise variations in trunk position. Knee joint angles
were recorded in this position. Knee positions were
dependent on the position of heel placement and where