Calibration of the mercury-in-silastic strain gauge in tendon load experiments

A calibration method is presented by which the signals of mercury-in-silastic strain gauges (MISS), implanted in the tendons of in vitro loaded equine hindlegs, were converted to tendon loads. The relationships between MISS-signals and tendon loads were obtained from tensile-force tests applied to the tendons. Special attention was paid to the correction of the MISS-signals for amplitude-shifts resulting from internal repositioning of the MISS after tendon isolation and temperature differences. Shift corrections equivalent to tendon strains up to 2.8% were necessary in the in vitro experiment. The tendon loads deduced from the corrected MISS-signals were checked by torque analyses of the lower part of the limb. Differences between computed and experimentally obtained values of the torque of the tendon loads with respect to the fetlock joint ranged from -4 to +13%.