Effects of minimalist footwear and stride length reduction on the probability of metatarsal stress fracture: a weibull analysis with bone repair

摘要

Physical activity such as distance running exposes bones of the lower extremity to lengthy bouts of repetitive loading, which causes mechanical fatigue characterized by the manifestation of tissue microdamage. If the rate of micro-damage accumulation is greater than the rate of bone repair, tissue quality may be diminished resulting in an increased risk of stress fracture. The metatarsal bones are highly susceptible to this injury, encompassing 10% of all stress fractures in active populations (Iwamoto et al., 2003). Microdamage formation in bone is a strong function of strain magnitude; therefore, mechanisms that reduce bone strain may also reduce stress fracture risk.