Anisotropic response of the human knee joint meniscus to unconfined compression

The response of meniscal tissue to axial, radial and circumferential compre ssive forces was measured at physiologically relevant levels of load in eig ht pairs of human knee joint menisci. Compression was unconfined and uniaxi al. Stress-strain data were fitted to a two-parameter exponential model. Th e tissue was found to be significantly stiffer to axial compressive forces than to radial and circumferential forces. No significant difference was fo und between the responses to circumferential and radial forces.