A method for preoperatively characterizing an individual patient's biomechanic function in preparation of implanting a prosthesis is provided. The method includes subjecting a patient to various activities, recording relative positions of anatomy during said various activities, measuring force environments responsive to said patient's anatomy and affected area during said various activities, characterizing the patient's biomechanic function from said relative positions and corresponding force environments, inputting the measured force environments, relative positions of knee anatomy, and patient's biomechanic function characterization into one or more computer simulation models, inputting a computer model of the prosthesis into said one or more computer simulation models, and manipulating the placement of the prosthesis in the computer simulation using said patient's biomechanic function characterization and said computer model of the prosthesis to approximate a preferred biomechanical fit of the prosthesis.