Creep Does Not Contribute to Fatigue in Bovine Trabecular Bone

Abstract

In both cortical and trabecular bone loaded in fatigue, the stress-strain loops translate along the strain axis. Previous studies have suggested that this translation is the result of creep associated with the mean stress applied in the fatigue test. In this study, we measured the residual strain (corresponding to the translation of the stress-strain loops) in fatigue tests on bovine trabecular bone and compared it to an upper bound estimate of the creep strain in each test. Our results indicate that the contribution of creep to the translation of the stress-strain loops is negligible in bovine trabecular bone. These results, combined with models for fatigue in lower density bone, suggest that that creep does not contribute to the fatigue of normal human bone. Creep may make a significant contribution to fatigue in low-density osteoporotic bone in which trabeculae have resorbed, reducing the connectivity of the trabecular structure.