Helical Crimp Model Predicts Material Properties From Tendon Microsctructure

The structural organisation at various levels of the tendon hierarchy is important for determining its biomechanical, functional, properties. The intricacies of this organi-sation, however, are not yet well defined. Developing tendon imaging and concurrent analysis methods are essential for exploring the clinical potential of image-based tendon assessment. This paper demonstrates a multimodal imaging approach for characteris-ing tendon tissue at multiple spatial scales; high field magnetic resonance imaging and microscopy both distinguish between normal and damaged tendon, at different spatial scales. A multiple cylindrical helix model, which accounts for a range of observed crimp architectures, is proposed for interpreting images of normal and damaged tendon mi-crostructure. Image-derived parameters, helix radius and pitch, are fitted to a mechanical helix model to predict changes in material property from tendon structure. Biomechani-cal insight suggests that abnormal fibre organisation increases tendon stiffness.