Bone Stress Injury

Bone stress injuries occur when the bones cannot tolerate repeated mechanical loads. This kind of injury is common in athletes, accounting for 10% of all orthopedic injuries. Early detection of bone stress injury and identification of risk factors is an essential part of injury management. This study examined how metatarsals may react under repeated mechanical loads by developing a method and test fixture to model the physiological loading conditions. Testing on 10 avian tibiae was performed and damage accumulation up to 30,000 cycles was measured. This damage was used to identify the mechanical properties of bone under cyclic loading conditions, which can be used to inform preventative methods and treatment for bone stress injuries in humans