Biotelemetric passive sensor injected within tendon for strain and elasticity measurement

A passive and injectable (using hypodermic needle) biotelemetric sensor for measurements of tendon length changes has been developed. From these measurements tendon strain and Young's modulus of elasticity can be derived. The sensor (about 2.1 x 29 mm) is a LC circuit fixed in tendon by metallic anchors (barbs), where the value of the resonance frequency is modulated by displacement of a mobile ferrite core. The sensor was injected into digital extensor tendon of pig, allowing the determination of its stress-strain curve and, consequently, of Young's modulus of elasticity of the tendon. Practical results, such as sensitivity of 18.199 kHz/mm (correlation coefficient of 0.9891) for strains up to 5.17%, mechanical hysteresis of 6.5%, and Young's modulus of 0.9146 GPa for a pig tendon (post mortem), are presented and discussed.