Microdamage, in the form of small cracks, exists in healthy bone. Microdamage can be created by an overload or by repetitive motion (fatigue) during daily activities. Usually, microdamage is repaired during bone remodeling and a steady state is maintained. However, in cases of excessive microdamage creation or slowed bone remodeling, microdamage can coalesce to create a fracture. Our previous work [1] has investigated how microdamage accumulates with increasing strain in bovine trabecular bone loaded beyond its yield strain, and how the microdamage parameters relate to changes in the bone mechanical properties. Our current work uses the techniques developed for the analysis of microdamage in overloaded bone to investigate microdamage created during fatigue loading. We asked the following research questions: (1) how does microdamage accumulate in bovine trabecular bone loaded in fatigue to various strain levels?, and (2) how does changing the applied load affect damage accumulation?
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