Simulation of bone adaptive remodeling using a stochastic process as loading history.

Abstract

In this simulation study for bone adaptive remodeling, loading conditions are described as stochastic processes to catch the unpredictable characteristics of daily physical activities, which are observed to be closely related with bone adaptive remodeling. This will not only eliminate the necessity of arbitrary choices for loading conditions, but also generate greater flexibility for simulations of bone adaptive remodeling. The sensitivity of simulation outcomes to the parameters in the simulation algorithm was examined by applying stochastic loading conditions on finite element models of simplified spine structures. In this way, the limitations induced by simplifying loading conditions into constant or cyclic loads can be avoided and, potentially, more clinical observations could be accommodated when more comprehensive finite element models are available.