Relation between mechanical stiffness and vibration transmission of fracture callus: an experimental study on rabbit tibia.

It has been suggested that the vibration transmission across a fracture is affected by the stages of healing of the fracture callus. This study aims to correlate the change in vibration transmission with mechanical stiffness of the callus measured by three-point bending. The right tibiae of male, three-month old local albino rabbits were osteotomized and stabilized by intramedullary fixation following open reduction. The intramedullary rods were removed on the 15th, 28th, 42nd and 90th days postoperatively and the tibiae were excised for vibration, three-point bending and bone mineral density analysis by quantitative computerized tomography (QCT). Optimum time for clinical weight bearing was determined by checking the convergence of the vibration parameters of the fractured tibia to those of the unfractured contralateral. The conclusions obtained from curvature analysis, based on vibration experiments, were in considerable correlation (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient r = 0.93, p = 0.003) with the conclusions obtained from the three-point bending test data which reflected the mechanical condition of the bone by direct means. However, no correlation between bone mineral density change and vibration transmission was noted.