Influence of a change in activity regime on femoral bone architecture and failure behaviour
File(s)journal.pone.0297932.pdf (3.62 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Villette, Claire
Phillips, Andrew
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The incidence and morbidity of femoral fractures increases drastically with age. Femoral architecture and associated fracture risk are strongly influenced by loading during physical activities and it has been shown that the rate of loss of bone mineral density is significantly lower for active individuals than inactive. The objective of this work is to evaluate the impact of a cessation of some physical activities on elderly femoral structure and fracture behaviour. The authors previously established a biofidelic finite element model of the femur considered as a structure optimised to loading associated with daily activities. The same structural optimisation algorithm was used here to quantify the changes in bone architecture following cessation of stair climbing and sit-to-stand. Side fall fracture simulations were run on the adapted bone structures using a damage elasticity formulation. Total cortical and trabecular bone volume and failure load reduced in all cases of activity cessation. Bone loss distribution was strongly heterogeneous, with some locations even showing increased bone volume. This work suggests that maintaining the physical activities involved in the daily routine of a young healthy adult would help reduce the risk of femoral fracture in the elderly population by preventing bone loss.
Date Issued
2024-04-29
Date Acceptance
2024-01-14
Citation
PLoS One, 2024, 19 (4)
ISSN
1932-6203
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Journal / Book Title
PLoS One
Volume
19
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2024 Villette, Phillips. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
License URL
Identifier
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0297932
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e0297932
Date Publish Online
2024-04-29