Osteoporosis and fatigue fracture prevention by analysis of bone microdamage

Abstract

We analyzed the conditions under which microcracks, generated by fatigue, affect the fracture properties of bones; this has clinical relevance to stress fractures and osteoporosis. A novel theoretical model was developed to describe microcrack behaviour, using probabilistic analysis and the concept of a characteristic length. In this way we identified effects of aging and gamma radiation sterilisation, which weaken bone and cause accelerated development of microcracks. This work will help in the development of better predictive models to understand and prevent stress fractures and osteoporosis-related fragility fractures.