106 A Novel Method To Determine The Tensile Properties Of The Transverse Carpal Ligament In-situ

Anatomically, the Transverse Carpal Ligament (TCL) attaches to the carpal bones distally and proximally. Beneath the TCL, during finger and hand movements the median nerve and tendons move in the longitudinal, transverse, volar and dorsal directions [Ugbolue et al, 2005] and become compressed as they move in the dorsal and volar directions [Armstrong, 1979]. Within the carpal tunnel complex, the tendons and median nerve together with the TCL form a pulley system [Brooks et al, 2003; Stecco et al, 2010]. Biomechanically, the TCL has been studied to determine its compressive [Holmes, 2011] and tensile [Li et al, 2009; Sucher et al, 1998] properties. While these methods have involved either excising the TCL or determining the biomechanical properties of the TCL intact / transected, experimentally there is still no widely accepted method designed to specifically evaluate the tensile properties of the TCL and carpal tunnel complex. That is to date, there are no known methods to test the TCL to failure in-situ.