A pressure vessel model for nerve compression.

Abstract

This paper suggests that compression block in nerve can be better interpreted in terms of a pressure vessel model for nerve fiber distension that the more common models based upon tubes with more or less rigid walls. In this model resistance to compression is due to the elasticity of the cell membrane at locations where displaced intracellular fluid tends to distend it. Because the stresses in pressure vessels increase with the size of the vessel, the theory predicts that the percentage deformation should be larger in larger diameter fibers.