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Description: The osteochondral unit of human load-bearing joints is one of the most complex structures of the musculoskeletal system. Gaining a thorough comprehension on the biomechanics of the osteochondral unit is crucial to understand how it responds to intra-articular loads and to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed treatments in restoring normal strain levels, preventing irreversible damage. Furthermore, a deep understanding of the mechanical behaviour of the entire osteochondral unit is essential for the advancement of tissue engineering approaches as potential alternatives to arthroplasty. Accordingly, the leading aim of this systematic review is to provide an overview of the mechanical properties of the osteochondral tissues, along with experimental methods used to determine these properties. Only studies on the human lower limb joints published between 2000 and 2022 were selected. Preference was given to studies that were better designed from a methodological point of view, assessed by the implementation of a multi-criteria evaluation approach. In addition, a brief description of the constitutive models proposed to describe the mechanical behaviour of the osteochondral tissues is provided, along with a brief examination of the approaches used to investigate the structure-function relationship of the osteochondral tissues. The achieved evidence revealed that no study assessing the response of the entire osteochondral unit as a whole. In a future perspective, advances in imaging technologies and experimental techniques capable of measuring the displacement and strain field on the surface or within osteochondral tissues hold the potential to comprehensively evaluate the response of the entire osteochondral unit.