Rolling resistance of articular cartilage due to interstitial fluid flow

A mechanism which may contribute to the frictional coefficient of diarthrodial joints is the rolling resistance due to hysteretic energy loss of viscoelastic cartilage resulting from interstitial fluid flow. The hypothesis of this study is that rolling resistance contributes significantly to the measured friction coefficient of articular cartilage. Due to the difficulty of testing this hypothesis experimentally, theoretical predictions of the rolling resistance are obtained using the solution for rolling contact of biphasic cylindrical cartilage layers [Ateshian and Wang (1)]. Over a range of rolling velocities, tissue properties and dimensions, it is found that the coefficient of rolling resistance mu(R) varies in magnitude from 10(-6) to 10(-2); thus, it is generally negligible in comparison with experimental measurements of the cartilage friction coefficient (10(-3)-10(-1)) except, possibly, when the tissue is arthritic. Hence, the hypothesis of this study is rejected on the basis of these results.