Trauma of the cricoid and interlocked stress.

In young rabbits the effects were studied of an anterior midline and a bilateral split with and without traumatisation of the perichondrium and subperichondrial cartilage on the inner side of the ring. Various interventions produced specific patterns of distortions. It is concluded that release of interlocked stress in the cartilage is of paramount importance for the development of deformities. A specific feature of the circular cartilaginous structure seems to be that the tensile forces on the outer side of the ring exceed those on the inner side.