Impact of Trabecular Bone Loss on Bone Strength
Author Information
Author(s): Reich Tal, Gefen Amit
Primary Institution: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Hypothesis
Trabecular bone serves as a structural support to the cortex during impact, and loss of a critical mass of trabecular bone reduces internal constraining of the cortex, decreasing the impact tolerance of the whole bone.
Conclusion
Loss of over 10% of core trabecular bone substantially altered the deformation response of whole bone to impact.
Supporting Evidence
- Removal of core trabecular bone decreased the cortical strain rate by ~10-fold.
- Strain rates dropped from 359,815 μm/m per second for an intact specimen to 35,997 μm/m per second with 67% trabecular bone mass removed.
- A sigmoid relation emerged between normalized strain rate and removed mass of trabecular bone.
Takeaway
If the spongy part inside a bone gets too small, the bone becomes weaker and can break more easily when it gets hit.
Methodology
Cortical strain rate measurements were conducted on adult chicken femora subjected to a Charpy impact test after removing different trabecular bone core masses.
Limitations
The study used chicken femora, which may not fully represent human bone behavior.
Participant Demographics
Adult female chickens older than 10 months.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.01
Statistical Significance
p<0.01
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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