Mechanical Properties of the Human Tibial and Peroneal Nerves Following Stretch With Histological Correlations

Despite the extensive literature regarding peripheral nerve stretch injuries, there are few studies that compare the nerve histology with the mechanical properties in humans. There is clinical evidence suggesting that the peroneal nerve is at greater risk for injury compared to the tibial nerve following total hip arthroplasty and hip trauma. We examined the two nerves from fresh human cadavers with or without controlled stretch. The mechanical properties, stiffness, and strain were compared with light microscopic preparations in longitudinal sections stained by the trichrome method for collagen and showing the effects of structural deformation. The tibial nerve had an average failure load 1.7× that for the peroneal nerve ( P = 0.0001). Although the corresponding average stiffness showed a trend toward being larger (4.39 vs. 3.81 N/mm), the difference was not significant ( P = 0.126). Histologically, the perineurium along with the underlying nerve fascicle was undulated in the control specimens and straightened out in the stretched specimens. Peroneal nerves went on to failure at lower loads and exhibited a wavy pattern on pathologic slides after failure, which shows that peroneal nerves fail mechanically before they can unfold. The tibial nerve has a biomechanical and histological advantage compared to the peroneal nerve during tensile testing, which could be the reason why it is less commonly damaged. We conclude that the perineurium is especially protective against deformation changes in human nerves relative to the respective nerve size and number of fascicles. Anat Rec, 302:2030–2039, 2019. © 2019 American Association for Anatomy