Quasi-linear Viscoelasticity of Ankle Ligaments

Prior mechanical testing of ankle ligaments has focused on quantifying ligament ultimate strength (Attarian et al., 1985; Siegler et al., 1988). Few studies have attempted to model the constitutive behavior of ankle ligaments at sub-failure levels. Although the viscoelastic nature of ankle ligaments has been noted (Attarian et al., 1985), no studies have attempted to create a viscoelastic constitutive model for any ankle ligament. The purpose of this study was to create a quasi-linear viscoelastic constitutive model of eight major ankle ligaments for use in computational modeling of the human lower extremity.