Development of axial compression and combined axial compression and torque loading configurations to reproduce strain in the implanted femur during activities of daily living.
Femoral strain is indicative of the potential for bone remodeling (strain energy density, SED) and periprosthetic femoral fracture (magnitude of principal strains) after total hip arthroplasty (THA). Previous modeling studies have evaluated femoral strains in THA-implanted femurs under gait loads including both physiological hip contact force and femoral muscle forces. However, experimental replication of the complex muscle forces during activities of daily living (ADLs) is difficult for in vitro assessment of femoral implant or fixation hardware. Alternatively, cadaveric tests using simplified loading configurations have been developed to assess post-THA bone mechanics, although no current studies have demonstrated simplified loading configurations used in mechanical tests may simulate the physiological femoral strains under ADL loads. Using an optimization approach integrated with finite element analysis, this study developed axial compression and combined axial compression and torque testing configurations for three common ADLs (gait, stair-descent and sit-to-stand) via matching the SED profile of the femur in THA-implanted models of three specimens. The optimized simplified-loading models showed good agreement in predicting bone remodeling stimuli (post-THA change in SED per unit mass) and fatigue regions as compared with the ADL-loading models, as well as other modeling and clinical studies. The optimized simplified test configurations can provide a physiological-loading based pre-clinical platform for the evaluation of implant/fixation devices of the femur.