Tilting Surgical Tensor To Support At Least One Bone Cut

A method for joint balancing, comprising the steps of:

• inserting a tensor in an initial position into a joint to contact a medial surface of the tensor with a medial side of the joint and a lateral surface of the tensor with a lateral side of the joint;
• moving the tensor to a first position to simultaneously change a medial height of the medial side and a lateral height of the lateral side of the joint by a first distance using a first distraction mechanism;
• moving the tensor to a second position using a second distraction mechanism to change the medial height to a second distance, the medial surface and the lateral surface lying on a single plane in the second position, and
• moving the tensor to a third position using a third distraction mechanism to change the lateral height to a third distance,
• wherein the medial and lateral surfaces lies on a single plane in the third position.

A method for joint balancing, comprising the steps of:

• selecting a femoral support structure from a plurality of femoral support structures;
• coupling a sensor assembly to the femoral support structure, the sensor assembly including at least one sensor to measure load;
• inserting first and second arms of the femoral support structure into a tensor to couple the femoral support structure to the tensor;
• inserting the tensor while in a first configuration into a joint to contact the femoral support structure with a femur and a tibial support structure of the tensor with a tibia;
• moving the tensor to a second configuration to distract the femur and the tibia to increase a distance therebetween using a distraction mechanism, the distraction mechanism being coupled to the tibial support structure, and
• tilting the tibial support structure to vary a medial distance and a lateral distance between the femur and the tibia, the medial distance being defined between a medial side of the femur and the tibia, and the lateral distance being defined between a lateral side of the femur and the tibia.