Hindfoot Bone Viscoelasticity and Stress Relaxation
Authors: Son Michelle M. , Latt L. Daniel 
Published: October 2019

Category: Ankle, Ankle Arthritis, Basic Sciences/Biologics, Hindfoot Introduction/Purpose: Hindfoot arthrodeses have a non-union rate as high as 40%. Compression at the arthrodesis site plays a key role in stimulating bone growth leading to successful fusion. The ability to obtain and maintain compression depends not only on the surgical technique and the hardware which develop the compressive force but also on the response of the bone to compression. Bone, like other musculoskeletal tissues, is viscoelastic meaning that it has properties of both fluids and solids. Because bone is viscoelastic, it experiences stress relaxation (decrease in compressive force over time). The rate and magnitude of such stress relaxation is unknown. Our primary objective was to quantify stress relaxation of the hindfoot bones when subjected to a fixed compression displacement as would be done during arthrodesis. Methods: 10 human cadaveric bone cylinders measuring 10 mm in both diameter and height were cut from the articular surfaces of the talus, calcaneus, and distal tibia using a disposable cylindrical osteochondral harvester (OATS, Arthrex inc, Naples, FL). Each bone cylinder sample included subchondral and trabecular bone, and articular cartilage was removed during preparation. Each sample was scanned with a micro-computed tomography (uCT) scanner (Biomedical Micro CT Scanner, Scanco Medical, Switzerland) to quantify bone volume/total volume ratio (BV/TV), trabecular thickness, trabecular separation, trabecular number, and connectivity density. Each specimen was submerged in a saline bath and compressed by 1 mm at a strain rate of 1mm/sec using a material testing machine (System 810, MTS Systems, Eden Prairie, MN), and load data was gathered by an Interface load cell. Displacement was held constant for 3 hours, after which each sample was removed from the test machine and immediately rescanned with the uCT scanner. Results: The ensemble load curve of the ten samples displayed uniform exponential decay. After the initial load was placed on the bone, a steep, negative load velocity was apparent. Rapid decay occurred within the first 3 minutes, after which the load plateaued, holding constant over the subsequent 3 hours of compression. The average peak load was 515.53 N (SD: 254.58 N). The average percent load loss was 65.77% over 30 minutes (SD: 20.95%). Discrete time periods (B1, B2, B3, B4) were established corresponding to 0-3 min, 3-10 min, 10-20 min, and 20-30 min, respectively. Time periods B1, B2, B3, and B4 demonstrated an average percent load loss per time period of 43.35% (SD: 10.09%), 13.80% (SD: 14.77%), 18.65% (SD: 24.97%) and 7.95% (SD: 13.37%), respectively. Conclusion: Our data suggest that a significant percentage of compressive load placed across a bone is lost within the first 3 minutes as compared to any subsequent time period. Moreover, approximately 65.77% of the compressive load is lost over the first 30 minutes. These data suggest that when performing arthrodesis with compressive hardware, the majority of the initially applied compressive load may dissipate over the first 3-30 minutes, which may contribute to nonunion. Thus, a re-tightening of screws after 5-30 minutes or the use of a continuous compressive device may help to maintain compression at the arthrodesis site throughout healing.