US Patent 7749229 Total knee arthroplasty through shortened incision

A method is provided for performing total knee arthroplasty. The method includes making a primary incision near the knee joint of a leg of a patient and cutting medial and lateral condyles of the femur of the leg to create at least one femoral cut surface. The method also includes moving a femoral component of a total knee implant through the primary incision and positioning the femoral component with respect to the at least one femoral cut surface. The primary incision has a length of less than thirteen (13) centimeters.