A WATER TRANSPORT MODEL FOR THE CREEP RESPONSE OF THE INTERVERTEBRAL-DISK

Time-dependence in the mechanical response of the intervertebral disc has previously been shown to arise from the transport of water out of the disc. A creep model has been devised which describes the water transport in terms of the disc structure. This model assumes that the flow of water is the result of a pressure gradient across the cartilage end-plates, caused by an externally applied stress. The fluid transport properties of the cartilage determine the flow rate. Several cases are studied; those that best fit the experimental results use either a strain-dependent or a time- and strain-dependent pressure gradient. The permeability of the disc system is in the range (0.20 to 0.85) x 10(-17) m4 N-1 sec-1 and depends on the stress level. These values are lower than those reported in the literature for articular cartilage, but this can be explained in part by the differences in water content of the cartilage types. Permeability is found to decrease with applied stress, and both the strain- and time-dependence parameters increase in magnitude with stress. It can be shown that the analytical models of the creep response of the disc are analogous to three- and four-parameter viscoelastic models that employ springs and dashpots.