Accelerometric assessment of osseous union.

Study of the dynamic structure response of the long bone has demonstrated the potential to provide an objective quantitative test of fracture healing. The method described consists of monitoring the propagation of a mechanical wave across the fracture site. This wave--generated by the fall of a steel ball from a constant height on a subcutaneous bony protuberance--was monitored on the side opposite the fracture gap by a light-weight accelerometer and traced on a beam-storage oscilloscope. The signals received were found to correlate linearly with the different stages of the fracture welding, as shown by accepted clinical and radiological practice. It seems feasible that the method, being noninvasive, reproducible, simple, painless, and inexpensive, may be used to measure the parameters of fracture healing that are of clinical and scientific interest.