• Clinical biomechanics · Jun 1998

    The effects of external mechanical stimulation on the healing of diaphyseal osteotomies fixed by flexible external fixation.

    • S. Wolf, A. Janousek, J. Pfeil, W. Veith, F. Haas, G. Duda, and L. Claes.
    • Abteilung Unfallchirurgische Forschung und Biomechanik, Universität, Ulm, Germany.
    • Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon). 1998 Jun 1; 13 (4-5): 359-364.

    ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an externally applied mechanical stimulus on fracture healing under flexible fixation. DESIGN: Stimulation of fracture healing under various conditions of interfragmentary movement in an in vivo fracture model on 41 sheep. BackgroundIt is generally accepted that small interfragmentary movements (IFMs) yield better bone healing results than larger IFMs (> 1 mm). However, the optimal size of IFM within the 1-mm range remains undetermined. MethodsStandardized transverse osteotomy of 3 mm gap size in the left ovine tibia was fixed with an unilateral external fixator. The sheep were divided into four IFM groups of 0.0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.8 mm and stimulated with this amplitude for 1200 cycles per day at 1 Hz. After a healing period of 6 weeks, bone mineral density and biomechanical stability were evaluated to determine the quality of healing. ResultsThe amount of callus formation increased significantly with increasing IFM (P <0.05). However, highest biomechanical stability of the healed bone and mineral density of the gap tissue was achieved with an IFM of 0.4 mm, although the differences were not significant. ConclusionsThese results suggest that the optimal interfragmentary movement for acceleration of delayed fracture healing is in the range of 0.5 mm. However, the enhancement of the healing of flexibly-fixed fractures by external application of interfragmentary movement is limited. RELEVANCE: In this model the external application of a mechanical stimulus in addition to the stimulation caused by normal loading and the flexibility of the fixation did not enhance the healing process significantly. It appears that the external application of interfragmentary motion is promising perhaps only for patients unable to stimulate their fracture healing by weight-bearing.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…