A MODEL FOR COMPUTER-AIDED ANALYSIS OF BIOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THE PLANTARIS LONGUS TENDON IN THE RABBIT

A total of 188 plantaris longus tendons with different biomechanical properties achieved by different treatments were used. With a simple load-strain sequence using a constant strain rate, load strain curves were obtained. The function was fitted to these curves up to a strain of 7. 5%. The mean value for fraction of explained variance was 0. 996 indicating a very good fit and a high flexibility. Biomechanical and statistical analyses may be performed using only two parameters which give great data reduction and a considerable simplification of the statistical analysis.