Six post mortem specimens of the knee joint were studied for the measurement of contact pressure on the tibial plateaus.Transistor pressure transducers and Bourdon tube pressure gauges were used for this purpose.At an extended position of the knee joint with the intact menisci,the peak pressure increased up to on the cartilage covered by the meniscus did not reach to 2.0 MPa,except on near the free margin of the meniscus.After excision of 30% of the meniscus and total meniscectomy,the peak contact pressures showed 5.6 and 76 MPa respectively under the load of 2700N.