Journal of Hand Surgery

Eric J. Wall, MD, Michael K. Kwan, PhD, Bjorn L. Rydevik, MD, PhD, Savio L-Y. Woo, PhD, and Steven R. Garfin, MD


This study determines the change in tension after an acute nerve lengthening, as would occur in peripheral nerve repair. Stress relaxation, a viscoelastic property, was studied with the use of 24 rabbit tibial nerves. The nerves were divided into three groups and were stretched 6%, 9%, or 12% beyond their original resting length. The mean l-hour stress relaxations for the three groups were 48%, 34%, and 34%, respectively. Nerve stress relaxation was significantly greater at 6% strain than at 9% or 12% strain. These biomechanical findings have important clinical implications for nerve-stretch injury and.for nerve repair.