Role of Trabecular Bone Distribution in Femoral Neck Biomechanics
Abstract Body weight, habitual postures and activities are the primary determinants of the nature and magnitude of loads acting on the proximal femur, the distribution of which influences the development of the bone structure and geometry (Wolff, 1892). This phenomena, called functional adaptation, has long been an area of interest in the field of bone mechanics, particularly with reference to compensatory geometric remodeling of long bones with decreasing bone mass (Martin et al. 1977; Ruff et al. 1988; Kannus et al., 1996). However, the extent to which compensatory remodeling occurs in the femoral neck remains unclear (Horikoshi, 1999; Beck, 1993). A potential adaptation of the femoral neck may be characterized by the asymmetric distribution of trabecular and cortical bone in the femoral neck cross-section, i.e. there is a disparity in superior and inferior cortical thickness (Bell, 1999; Boyce, 1993), referred to here as an eccentricity.