Femoral neck bone adaptation to weight-bearing physical activity by computational analysis

Individual differences in bone mass distribution at the proximal femur may be determined by daily weight-bearing physical activity (PA) since bone self-adapts according to the mechanical loads that is submitted. The aim of this study was to analyse computationally the effect of different weight-bearing PA types in the adaptation of the femoral neck (FN) by analysing regional differences in bone mineral density (BMD) at the integral FN and its superior, inferior, anterior and posterior subregions. To achieve this, it was adopted a 3-D femoral finite element (FE) model coupled with a suitable bone remodeling model. Different PA types were determined based both on ordinary lifestyle and mechanically more demanding PA as low magnitude impacts (L-I), moderate-magnitude impacts from odd directions (O-I) and high-magnitude vertical impacts (H-I). It was observed that as time spent in weight-bearing PA increases, BMD augment around the integral FN, but with different bone mass gain rates between subregions depending on the magnitude and directions of the hip contact forces; H-I was the type of weight-bearing PA which structurally most favor the gain of bone mass superiorly at the FN while both the H-I and the O-I types of PA promoted the largest bone mass gain rates at the anterior and posterior subregions of the FN. Because these types of weight-bearing PA were associated with a more uniform bone mass spatial distribution at the FN, they should provide a potential basis for targeted PA-based intervention programs for improving hip strength.