RESONANT-FREQUENCY ANALYSIS OF THE TIBIA AS A MEASURE OF FRACTURE-HEALING

The Resonant Frequency (RF) of the tibia is proportional to its stiffn ess. As a fractured tibia heals, its RF should increase. The RF was se rially determined in 74 fractured tibias (205 examinations). These wer e subdivided by fracture location and fixation. Fast Fourier transform software generates the RF from data obtained with an instrumented imp actor and accelerometer. The RF was normalized by expressing it as a r atio of the intact tibia. This ratio is called the tibial stiffness in dex (TSI). A 20 point tibial fracture score (TFS) quantitated the clin ical and radiographic signs of healing. For each group the paired TSI and TFS were compared by regression analysis. Except for those fractur es limited to the proximal fourth of the tibia, the TSI was found to c orrelate significantly (p = 0.0001) with the TFS. Fractures without fi xation and those with unlocked, unreamed tibial nails showed very sign ificant correlation of TSI with TFS (p = 0.0001). RF analysis was not useful in fractures with locked or reamed tibial nails. Examination of tibia with external fixation showed significant correlation (p = 0.02 ) of the TSI with the TFS.