Patent ID: 7601177

Claim:
A method for determining a relative target position of an artificial joint element of a knee joint having four compartments, each compartment including at least a portion of a condyle and a socket, the method comprising: removing at least one compartment from the artificial knee joint; temporarily replacing the at least one compartment with an adjustment aid, the adjustment aid including a receptacle and a further component disposed moveably relative to the receptacle, wherein the temporarily replacing includes detachably affixing the receptacle to a bone region on one side of the knee joint, wherein the further compartment cooperates with one of the four compartments remaining in the knee joint; pivoting the knee joint so that the cooperation of the further compartment with the one of the four compartments causes the further compartment to shift relative to the receptacle; establishing a reference position resulting from the relative shift of the artificial further compartment to the receptacle; at least one of selecting and adjusting the artificial joint element to be implanted using the reference position; and removing the adjustment aid so as to enable an implantion of the artificial joint element.