Softening of canine articular cartilage after immobilization of the knee joint

Jurvelin J, Kiviranta I, Tammi M, Helminen HJ · Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research

Eleven weeks of immobilization softened femoral and tibial cartilage (deformation rate up 42%) and thinned it by ~9% — mechanical competence of cartilage degrades rapidly without load.

Population

Dogs with knee joints splinted for 11 weeks

Intervention

Joint immobilization

Comparator

Contralateral/control knees

Limitations

Canine model; splinting is more extreme than clinical relative rest; biomechanical endpoints.