Measurement of friction between pulley and flexor tendon.

When tendon excursion takes place through the pulley, friction and drag are encountered at the interface. Repetitive exposure to such friction and attrition of the tendon has been considered one of the important factors causing cumulative trauma and leading to disorders such as tendinitis and tenosynovitis. In this study, development of an experimental method to evaluate friction and drag between the pulley and tendon under different loading conditions and joint configurations is considered. Verification of the model under an ideal situation of sutures across a mechanical pulley was performed.