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Finite Element Analysis of Femoral Strains in Older Adults During Stair Ascent and Descent

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Abstract

Purpose

Understanding the femur load environment during daily activity is necessary for the understanding of risk of femoral pain, pain related falls, and femoral fractures, which could help the design of osteogenic exercises or the preventative methods for older adults.

Methods

Using the finite element femur analysis, this study was to estimate the femoral strains at 9 cross-sections along the long axis of femur for stair ascent and descent (n = 17; age: 50–65 years). Motion analysis and inverse dynamics were combined with musculoskeletal modelling and optimization, then were used as input to a 3-D femur model to estimate femoral strains. Strains at the hip contact force peaks were calculated.

Results

The compressive and tensile strains during stair descent were greater than ascent for all or most cross-sections, especially for the proximal cross-sections of the femur: stair ascent produced − 324.0 ± 103.8 to − 483.7 ± 191.0 µε compressive strains and descent produced − 608.8 ± 288.4 to 1016.0 ± 444.1 µε; stair ascent produced 336.2 ± 105.4 to 391.8 ± 136.9 µε tensile strains and descent produced 546.9 ± 252.8 to 741.7 ± 333.6 µε.

Conclusion

Strains represent the material deformation effect on the bone due to the sum of all the bone external loads. Using bone strains could help future studies analyze load conditions in a more comprehensive way for other physical activities, which predicts the risk of stress fractures and tests if alternative methods (gait type change) could reduce stress and strain effectively.

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Funding

The Funding was provided by Chinese Universities Scientific Fund (Grant No. 2020063).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Sport Biomechanics, School of Sport Science, Beijing Sport University, No. 48, Xinxi Road, Beijing, 100084, People’s Republic of China

    Chen Deng

  2. Department of Kinesiology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

    Jason C. Gillette & Timothy R. Derrick

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  1. Chen Deng
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  2. Jason C. Gillette
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  3. Timothy R. Derrick
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Contributions

Three authors were involved with the study and the preparation of the manuscripts: Chen Deng  was fully involved in research design, data collection/analysis, manuscript writing and reviewing; Jason Gillette  was involved in research design and manuscript reviewing/editing; Timothy Derrick  was involved in research design, data collection and manuscript reviewing/editing. All authors have read and concurred with the content in the final manuscript and agreed to submit this manuscript to Journal of Science in Sport and Exercise. The material within the manuscript has not been and will not be submitted for publication elsewhere except as an abstract.

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Correspondence to Chen Deng.

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Conflict of interest

Author Timothy Derrick was not involved in the journal’s review of, or decisions related to, this manuscript.

Ethics approval

ISU IRB # 17-296; approved by Iowa State University Human Subjects Review Board.

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All participants signed written informed consent that had been approved by the Iowa State University Human Subjects Review Board.

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Deng, C., Gillette, J.C. & Derrick, T.R. Finite Element Analysis of Femoral Strains in Older Adults During Stair Ascent and Descent. J. of SCI. IN SPORT AND EXERCISE 4, 168–179 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42978-021-00141-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42978-021-00141-1

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