Lubrication of mammalian joints

Abstract

THE experiments and arguments of McCutchen1 and Lewis and McCutchen2 appear to confirm the theory of lubrication of mammalian joints first put forward twenty-seven years ago with particular reference to the intra-articular fibrocartilages and later developed in connexion with particular problems of articular structure, general and special3. The essence of that theory is that there is a sensibly thick film of synovial fluid between articular surfaces while the joint is in motion, and that this fluid is not only maintained between the surfaces but also flows between them in the direction of motion in accordance with the laws of viscous hydrodynamics. The question of the origin of the fluid was left in abeyance, being a physiological rather than a mechanical problem. © 1960 Nature Publishing Group.