Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Jan 14;14(1):18.
doi: 10.1186/s13018-018-1056-y.

A review of methods to measure tendon dimensions

Alex Hayes  1   2 , Katrina Easton  3 , Pavan Teja Devanaboyina  4 , Jian-Ping Wu  5 , Thomas Brett Kirk  6   7 , David Lloyd  4
Affiliations
Review

A review of methods to measure tendon dimensions

Alex Hayes et al. J Orthop Surg Res. .

Abstract

Tendons are soft tissues of the musculoskeletal system that are designed to facilitate joint movement. Tendons exhibit a wide range of mechanical properties matched to their functions and, as a result, have been of interest to researchers for many decades. Dimensions are an important aspect of tendon properties.Change in the dimensions of tissues is often seen as a sign of injury and degeneration, as it may suggest inflammation or general disorder of the tissue. Dimensions are also important for determining the mechanical properties and behaviours of materials, particularly the stress, strain, and elastic modulus. This makes the dimensions significant in the context of a mechanical study of degenerated tendons. Additionally, tendon dimensions are useful in planning harvesting for tendon transfer and joint reconstruction purposes.Historically, many methods have been used in an attempt to accurately measure the dimensions of soft tissue, since improper measurement can lead to large errors in the calculated properties. These methods can be categorised as destructive (by approximation), contact, and non-contact and can be considered in terms of in vivo and ex vivo.

Keywords: Dimensions; Ex vivo; In vivo; Measurements; Tendon.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Authors’ information

Not applicable.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Thorpe CT, Screen HRC. Tendon structure and composition. In: Metabolic influences on risk for tendon disorders. 1 edn. Edited by Ackermann PW, Hart DA. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016. p. 3–10.
    1. O’Brien M. Anatomy of tendons. In: Maffulli N, Renström P, Leadbetter WB, editors. Tendon injuries: basic science and clinical medicine. London: Springer London; 2005. pp. 3–13.
    1. Kastelic J, Galeski A, Baer E. The multicomposite structure of tendon. Connect Tissue Res. 1978;6(1):11–23. doi: 10.3109/03008207809152283. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Woo SLY, Debski RE, Zeminski J, Abramowitch SD, Chan Saw SS, Fenwick JA. Injury and repair of ligaments and tendons. Annu Rev Biomed Eng. 2000;2(1):83–118. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bioeng.2.1.83. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kalson NS, Holmes DF, Kapacee Z, Otermin I, Lu Y, Ennos RA, Canty-Laird EG, Kadler KE. An experimental model for studying the biomechanics of embryonic tendon: evidence that the development of mechanical properties depends on the actinomyosin machinery. Matrix Biol. 2010;29(8):678–689. doi: 10.1016/j.matbio.2010.08.009. - DOI - PMC - PubMed