[Mechanical aspects of bone stability by an in vivo testing method (author's transl)]

This is a report of a new method for in vivo determination of the Young modulus of human os radii. The failure of the apparatus is +/- 1.86 per cent. The accuracy of the measuring procedure on healthy subjects bases on a variation coefficient of nearly 10 per cent. 124 forearms of healthy persons had been studied in relation to age, sex and to the right and the left os radii. There was a statistically significant higher elastic property of the bones of adolescent versus elder men (over 60 years), but no significant differences between male and female. Right and left os radii had nearly the same amounts for the Young modulus.