Material properties of femoral cancellous bone in axial loading. Part II: Time dependent properties.

In part I of this communication we reported on some time independent material properties of cancellous bone specimens from different regions of human femora. In part II we will report on our investigations of the time dependent behaviour, i.e. stress relaxation and creep. Cylindrical specimens were obtained from the head and condyles of pairs of cadaveric femora and subjected to axial loading. The data were evaluated statistically. The medianL values for relaxation of cancellous bone were greater in the femoral head than in the condyles, greater proximally than distally and greater medially than laterally in the condyles. The distribution of creep was found to be the reverse. The correlation analysis showed that a linear correlation between compressive strength, apparent density and the time dependent properties cannot be assumed. The time dependent properties reported here would appear to demonstrate the visco-elastic behaviour of cancellous bone. An experimental foundation and explanation is presented for the clinical practice of re-tightening cancellous bone screws one time only.