The mechanical resonances of a human tibia: part I--in vitro.

This paper represents the beginning of a research programme whose aim is to develop a practical method of monitoring the healing progress of fractures. The objectives of the following are to identify the various resonances, and to show the types of modes which exist in long bones in vitro. A model has been evaluated to predict the tibial resonance frequencies. It is composed of a homogeneous, hollow beam with the constant cross section of an isosceles triangle. Such a beam can explain the two main types of fundamental transverse mode along with their triple resonances. The predicted resonances of the transverse waves are less than 5.8% in error in comparison to the measured values. This error increases to 23.8% for the torsional waves due to their different characteristics.