Table 4. Previously reported mechanical properties of human cervical ligaments.

Average (range) peak force (N), elongation (mm), and energy (J) at A) fast (≥ 250 mm/s) and B) slow (≤ 25 mm/s) elongation rates. The ligaments included anterior longitudinal ligament (ALL), intervertebral disc (IVD), posterior longitudinal ligament (PLL), capsular ligament (CL), ligamentum flavum (LF), and interspinous and supraspinous ligaments (ISL+SSL).

A) Fast elongation rates (≥250 mm/s)
		Peak Force	Peak Elongation	Peak Energy

ALL	250 mm/s	166.4^a	6.4^a	0.65^a
	2500 mm/s	349.5^a	6.3^a	1.23^a
LF	250 mm/s	181.5^a	6.3^a	0.63^a
	2500 mm/s	335.1^a	8.0^a	1.32^a
CL	10,000 to 12,000 mm/s	259.7 (140.5, 526.9)^j	2.6 (1.8, 3.6)^j

B) Slow elongation rates (≤ 25 mm/s)
	Peak Force	Peak Elongation	Peak Energy
ALL	117.3 (8.0, 140.0)^b,^c,^d,^f,^g	5.8 (2.4, 8.1)^b,^c,^f,^g,ⁱ	0.43 (0.14, 0.68)^d,^f,ⁱ
IVD	569.0^h	11.1^h	4.00^h
PLL	114.7 (82.0, 186.0)^b,^c,^d,^g	4.9 (2.4, 6.3)^b,^c,^g,ⁱ	0.22 (0.13, 0.31)^d,ⁱ
CL	130.2 (88.4, 224.0)^a,^b,^c,^e	8.3 (5.8, 10.8)^a,^b,^c,^e,ⁱ	1.50ⁱ
LF	136.2 (81.0, 215.0)^b,^c,^f	7.8 (5.7, 8.9)^b,^c,^f,ⁱ	0.51 (0.35, 0.70)^f,ⁱ
ISL+SSL	33.1 (32.0, 34.2)^b,^c	7.0 (6.5, 7.3)^b,^c,ⁱ	0.16ⁱ

The averages and ranges were calculated using average data from:

Yoganandan et al [21];

Myklebust et al [17];

Pintar et al [16];

Przybylski et al [19];

Siegmund et al [28];

Winkelstein et al [29];

Chazal et al [15];

Yoganandan et al [30];

ⁱ

Yoganandan et al [18];

Shim et al [22].