Strain-rate sensitivity of the lateral collateral ligament of the knee.

The material properties of ligaments are not well characterized at rates of deformation that occur during high-speed injuries. The aim of this study was to measure the material properties of lateral collateral ligament of the porcine stifle joint in a uniaxial tension model through strain rates in the range from 0.01 to 100/s. Failure strain, tensile modulus and failure stress were calculated. Across the range of strain rates, tensile modulus increased from 288 to 905 MPa and failure stress increased from 39.9 to 77.3 MPa. The strain-rate sensitivity of the material properties decreased as deformation rates increased, and reached a limit at approximately 1/s, beyond which there was no further significant change. In addition, time resolved microfocus small angle X-ray scattering was used to measure the effective fibril modulus (stress/fibril strain) and fibril to tissue strain ratio. The nanoscale data suggest that the contribution of the collagen fibrils towards the observed tissue-level deformation of ligaments diminishes as the loading rate increases. These findings help to predict the patterns of limb injuries that occur at different speeds and improve computational models used to assess and develop mitigation technology.

Design of a traumatic injury simulator for assessing lower limb response to high loading rates.

Current military conflicts are characterized by the use of the improvised explosive device. Improvements in personal protection, medical care, and evacuation logistics have resulted in increasing numbers of casualties surviving with complex musculoskeletal injuries, often leading to life-long disability. Thus, there exists an urgent requirement to investigate the mechanism of extremity injury caused by these devices in order to develop mitigation strategies. In addition, the wounds of war are no longer restricted to the battlefield; similar injuries can be witnessed in civilian centers following a terrorist attack. Key to understanding such mechanisms of injury is the ability to deconstruct the complexities of an explosive event into a controlled, laboratory-based environment. In this article, a traumatic injury simulator, designed to recreate in the laboratory the impulse that is transferred to the lower extremity from an anti-vehicle explosion, is presented and characterized experimentally and numerically. Tests with instrumented cadaveric limbs were then conducted to assess the simulator's ability to interact with the human in two mounting conditions, simulating typical seated and standing vehicle passengers. This experimental device will now allow us to (a) gain comprehensive understanding of the load-transfer mechanisms through the lower limb, (b) characterize the dissipating capacity of mitigation technologies, and (c) assess the bio-fidelity of surrogates.