PERIPHERAL-NERVE TENSION DUE TO JOINT MOTION - A COMPARISON BETWEEN EMBALMED AND UNEMBALMED HUMAN BODIES

Various joint positions of the upper extremity were used to study the tensile forces on the median nerve. To analyse the effect of embalmmen t, tensile forces were measured in situ in unembalmed and embalmed hum an bodies. A positive correlation was found between tensile force data from unembalmed and embalmed nerves. This finding justifies, for comp arative studies, the use of embalmed human bodies, although the absolu te tensile forces are higher. Relevance In daily activities or during certain operations positions of the upper extremity vary, hence creati ng tensile forces of different magnitude on peripheral nerves. Tensile forces are also applied in the diagnosis of nerve (root) lesions of t he upper extremity. To analyse these tensile forces, in-situ experimen ts on unembalmed human bodies, though problematic, are supposed to be the most realistic approach. In this study it has been shown that in c omparative studies on peripheral nerve tension, data obtained from emb almed human bodies can be used.