An introduction to measurements of human cortical bone elasticity using Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy

To understand the structure-function relationship of bone and to investigate bone fragility, a precise and practical way to measure cortical bone elasticity is important. Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS) has shown its accuracy and convenience in fully characterizing the stiffness coefficients of anisotropic solid materials. However, it was long believed that the method is not applicable to bone, a highly damping material. This paper reviews the basic concepts of RUS measurement and the recent progress of adapting this technique to the measurement of the elasticity tensor of highly damping materials. Meanwhile, a successful implementation of RUS with latest progress to measure the elasticity tensor of a collection of human tibia cortical bone specimens was demonstrated.