Experimental orthopedic biomechanics

The Chapter provides a wide overview of the experimental techniques currently used in the field of orthopedic biomechanics. The Chapter is organized into three main sections. The first section is dedicated to “experimental tests at the organ and tissue levels, " including the techniques meant to characterize the mechanical properties of hard (i.e., bone), soft (i.e., ligaments), and biphasic and poroelastic tissues (i.e., cartilage) at different scales. The second section is focused on the “experimental tests on implants and prostheses, " often including the integration of implants with dedicated transducers (i.e., pressure sensors) and/or strain measurements (i.e., surface analysis with digital image correlation), which are used during in vitro and in vivo tests. The third section presents the state-of-the-art on the major joint simulators (hip, knee, spine). For each methodology, the basic principles are briefly recalled, and their utility is explained providing extensive references and examples from the orthopedic field.