title: Rheological properties of the human lumbar spine ligaments.
abstract: The purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of the rheological properties of the lumbar spinal ligaments under subfailure physiological loads. Non-destructive tests including an hysteresis experiment, stress-relaxation and stepwise load-relaxation tests were used to investigate the time-dependent properties of the interspinous-supraspinous ligament complex. Using a reduced relaxation function, the viscoelastic behaviour over the experimental time-scale was described by a linear function of the logarithm of time. Internal damping of ligament substance dissipates about 36% of the mechanical energy applied during physiological loading. Local elastic stiffness is found to be two to four times global stiffness of the bone-ligament-bone complex. These physical parameters (stiffness, energy dissipation, hysteresis, relaxation, etc) can be used to improve computer models of the lumbar spinal column.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Institute, Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Yahia
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Audet
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Drouin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D004548:Elasticity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008023:Ligaments, Articular / Q000502:physiology*; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012212:Rheology; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013718:Tensile Strength / Q000502:physiology; D014783:Viscosity