Meniscus tears are one of the most common knee injuries, Menisci are pads of soft cartilage found in the knee joint. Due to limited blood supply, they tear and degenerate easily, but do not heal easily. In some cases, a torn meniscus can be surgically repaired. Meniscal repair procedures are tedious and technically difficult. Suture placement is delicate and fixation can damage the meniscus surrounding the tear.

DePuy (now DePuy Synthes), an orthopedics company that serves millions of patients globally, wanted to make a better suture fixation device. Industrial engineers and medical device designers require intimate, detailed knowledge of what happens during procedures. They need to understand how devices are used within a wide range of circumstances that affect outcomes including surgical expertise, presenting tear types, other tools used, supporting staff device knowledge, etc.

Industrial designers and engineers had neither access nor time to collect and synthesize this information directly from the operating field or to determine its implications for device design. My team gathered, analyzed, and visualized information on meniscal repairs through detailed procedural analysis, ergonomic or human factors assessments, time/energy expenditure reviews, and tool exchange evaluation to translate into requirements.