title: Stress in the Achilles tendon during a topple-over movement in the ankle joint.
abstract: The achilles tendon is one of the strongest tendons in the human body, and a healthy tendon will only rupture under very severe conditions. Experiments and statistics show a high probability of tendon rupture in the case of a person trying to make a quick start and thereby toppling over in the ankle joint. Toppling over means a quick overturning in the lower ankle joint as it may occur when starting out of the sagittal plane. Based on a verified model of the achilles tendon, of M. Gastrocnemius and M. Soleus (Hatze, H. (1980) IEEE Trans. Automatic Control 25, 375-385; Hoy et al. (1990) J. Biomechanics 23, 1185-1198.), the stress in different tendon fibres during such a movement is investigated. The results of this simulation show that the expected extreme stresses in the lateral tendon fibres are a possible starting point for a rupture.
authors.affiliation: Graz Hospital for Accident Surgery, Austria.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wallenböck
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lugner
mesh_terms: D000125:Achilles Tendon / Q000293:injuries* / Q000502:physiology*; D000843:Ankle Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D012421:Rupture; D013312:Stress, Physiological