A hypothetical mechanism of bone remodeling and modeling under electromagnetic loads

A hypothetical regulation mechanism for bone modeling- and remodeling under electromagnetic field is proposed. In this hypothesis, the bone modeling and remodeling mechanism is described as follows: the circular loads that we bear during ordinary daily activities generate micro-damage in cortical bone and these micro-cracks are removed by osteoclasts. Then growth factors, which are in latent forms in osteocytes, are activated by osteoclasts and released into bone fluid. These growth factors stimulate osteoblasts to refill the cavities. An electromagnetic field can stimulate the multiplication of growth factors and accelerate the bone remodeling process indirectly. It can be seen that many features reported in adaptive bone modeling and remodeling are explained by the proposed hypothesis. Further, a computational model is established based on the hypothesis, which can simulate the bone modeling and remodeling process under multi-field loads. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.