Bone maintenance and remodeling: A control system based on fatigue damage

✍ Scribed by David Taylor

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 567 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0736-0266
• DOI: 10.1002/jor.1100150417

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between damage, repair, and remodeling in compact bone. A model of microcrack growth is developed that takes account of recent findings on the behaviour of small fatigue cracks in other materials. This is combined with a simple model of a repair process, envisaged as a constant rate of decrease in crack length. The system that results is capable of achieving a stable and precise control of crack length without the need to measure it. This is very useful because it implies that bone does not require the complexities of crack‐measuring, transducers or active decision‐making processes. A simple explanation is suggested for the presence of a “lazy zone” of remodeling equilibrium strains, and the limits of this zone are quantified. The model is developed through a necessarily simplified geometry and loading scheme but can be extended to provide a general solution applicable to in vivo conditions.