A quantification of the changes in articular cartilage material properties during the onset of osteoarthritis using stress relaxation testing

Abstract

This study aims to quantify the relationship between biomechanical properties of articular cartilage and varying levels of tissue damage. While other studies have investigated the relationship between osteoarthritis and mechanical properties, our study provides a method to achieve accurate and rapid results from a single test on a given sample while minimizing the impact of extraneous factors such as varied strain and pore compression which are common issues in creep tests. The results of our optimization show the expected change in aggregate modulus and permeability with tissue damage and provide the first step in determining a concrete, quantitative relationship between these properties.--Discussion