Apart from the advantages of plate osteosynthesis, like primary bone healing and immediate post-operative mobilisation treatment, the disadvantages of this method must be mentioned. First of all these are the high pressure on the surface of the bone by the plate and the high tension stress on the bone by the thread of the screws, which can lead to bone atrophy. Besides the splinting by the plate is accompanied by a functional lack of the bone. The bone reacts on this "stress protection" by reduction of material, especially under the plate. These disadvantages shall be avoided by a new osteosynthesis system, called ZESPOL, which has been developed in Poland. Here the plate does not contact directly the bone, but is fixed above the periost by special screw bolts. Although this method is used in Poland clinically with success, until now no experimental examinations concerning the stability of this osteosynthesis have been published. In the following biomechanical tests we examined, whether the new method achieves a comparable interfragmental compression like common selfcompressing plate systems. We measured the maximal interfragmental compression with an interposed piezo-electric element on human cadaver tibiae. Because the original ZESPOL plates have greater dimensions than common plates, we did not use these original plates. In order to get a comparability between the two systems, we modified small Autocompression plates (ACP) by milling a slot in the underside, so that they could be used with the original ZESPOL screw bolts. These modified ZESPOL plates we compared with common 6-hole Autocompression plates and cortical screws.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)