The implications of mechanical alignment on soft tissue balancing in total knee arthroplasty.

Purpose: We hypothesized that the individual bone geometry is the most important variable to achieve acceptable soft tissue balancing during total knee arthroplasty.

Methods: Long-standing 3-foot films and computer navigation data from 90 patients with varus (n = 45) or valgus deformity (n = 45) were utilized who underwent navigated total knee arthroplasty. Mean age was 65 ± 8 years with 50 women and 40 men.