Abstract
The failure of ligament reconstruction has different risk factors, among which we
can highlight the period before its incorporation, which is a mechanically vulnerable
period. Loss of resistance over time is a characteristic of living tissues. Dissection
with bone insertions of the cruciate ligaments of animal models is not described;
however, it is essential for monoaxial assays to extract information from tests such
as relaxation. The present work describes the dissection used for the generation of
a test body for the performance of nondestructive tests to evaluate the mechanical
behavior. We performed dissection of four porcino knee ligaments, proposing a dissection
technique for the cruciate ligaments with bone inserts for comparison with collateral
ligaments. The ligaments were submitted to relaxation tests and had strain gauges
placed during the tests. The results showed viscoelastic behavior, validated by strain
gauges and with a loss over time; with some ligaments presenting with losses of up
to 20%, a factor to be considered in future studies. The present work dissected the
four main ligaments of the knee demonstrating the posterior approach that allows maintaining
their bone insertions and described the fixation for the monotonic uniaxial trials,
besides being able to extract the viscoelastic behavior of the four ligaments of the
knee, within the physiological limits of the knee.
Keywords
dissection - biomechanical phenomena - knee joint - tensile strength - models, animal
