Hip joint load prediction using inverse bone remodeling with homogenized FE models: Comparison to micro-FE and influence of material modeling strategy

Abstract

Measuring physiological loading conditions in vivo can be challenging, as methods are invasive or pose a high modeling effort. However, the physiological loading of bones is also imprinted in the bone microstructure due to bone (re)modeling. This information can be retrieved by inverse bone remodeling (IBR). Recently, an IBR method based on micro-finite-element (µFE) modeling was translated to homogenized-FE (hFE) to decrease computational effort and tested on the distal radius. However, this bone has a relatively simple geometry and homogeneous microstructure. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the agreement of hFE-based IBR with µFE-based IBR to predict hip joint loading from the head of the femur; a bone with more complex loading as well as more heterogeneous microstructure.