Human Tendon Research

At Duke University Dr. Paver, with colleagues Dr. McElhaney, Dr. Cheryl Gira Pattin, and H.J. McCrackin, performed experimental studies in pursuit of a suitable materials to replace damaged or destroyed human tendons using animal tendons as surrogates. For this research, the Duke Biomechanical Engineering team worked with the Department of Orthopedics at the Duke University Medical Center.

Initially, they explored the biomechanical engineering properties of chicken foot tendons, which were known to be a good biological models of the human hand. The initial test findings led them to kangaroo tail tendons, which also performed well if not better as surrogates for human hand, knee and ankle tendons.