Mechanical characterisation of soft tissue mechanics with aging

The effects of muskoskeletal disorders or degradation can be particularly evident in elderly people. Since the limitation of the functionality often lies in a field of mechanical behavior, the capability of characterizing the mechanics of soft connective tissues is important. In this paper it is shown how constitutive models can correctly describe the mechanical response of soft connective tissues and how these models can be adopted to account the modification of the micro-structural conformation of such tissues with aging. Through the use of numerical formulations capable of accounting for non linear-elastic behavior, visco-elasticity and damage phenomena, the change of the mechanical properties of the tissues are described and interpreted