The Influence of Gender on the Elastic Mechanical Properties of Human Abdominal Fascia

Abstract

This study presents effects of gender on the elastic mechanical properties of human abdominal fascia according to direction of loading. Samples from umbilical fascia (UF) have been cut along the fibres direction or perpendicular to them. The uniaxial tensile tests were performed. The mean curves of UF according to gender and direct of loading were presented. Mean values of the maximum tensile stress, stretch at maximum stress, maximum stretch ratio and elastic modulus E calculated at 5% strain were determined from the obtained stress – stretch ratio. The differences between investigated behaviour of male and female samples were distinguished. The maximum tensile stress for female samples was 1.1 MPa at transversal direction and 2.9 MPa at longitudinal direction, while for male samples the maximum tensile stress was 0.5 MPa and 1.5 MPa accordingly. The obtained results show that there exists statistically significant differences between values of maximum stress and elastic modulus E5 according to gender and direction of loading.