Medical Physics Chapter 3 Physics of the Skeleton

Chapter 3 Physics of the Skeleton

l Dealing with static and dynamic loading forces

m Shape of a bone
m Type of bony tissue
l Functions of bone
m Support: bones + tendons and ligaments + muscles
m Locomotion: bone joints (hinges or articulations)
m Protection of various organs: skull, ribs, spinal column
m Storage of chemicals: control of calcium in blood
m Nourishment: deciduous (baby) teeth and permanent teeth
m Sound transmission: ossicles in the middle ear impedance matching between
sound in air and sound in the fluid in the cochlea
l Bone as a living tissue
m Blood supply and nerve
m Osteocytes
Ÿ Cells that maintain the bone in a healthy condition
Ÿ 2% of the volume of bone
Ÿ Poor blood supply ⇒ osteocytes die ⇒ bone dies ⇒ loss of its strength
Ÿ Aseptic necrosis: bone cells in the hip die ⇒ artificial joint
m Bone remodeling by specialized bone cells
Ÿ Osteoclasts destroy the bone by about 0.5 g of calcium each day
Ÿ Osteoblasts build the bone by about 0.5 g of calcium each day
Ÿ Bones have about 1000 g of calcium ⇒ new skeleton in every seven years
equivalently
Ÿ Osteoblasts dominate until 35 to 40 years old
Ÿ Osteoporosis: porous bones in older women, Fig. 3.4(c) ⇒ fractures

3.1 What is Bone Made of?

m Composition of compact bone: Table 3.1

Ÿ Large percentage of calcium with heavier nucleus ⇒ high x-ray absorption
(Fig. 3.2)

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Medical Physics Chapter 3 Physics of the Skeleton

Ÿ Bone = collagen + bone mineral + water

m Collagen
Ÿ Major organic fraction, 40% of the weight of solid bone and 60% of its volume
Ÿ Collagen remainder: flexible and bends easily, large tensile strength (Fig. 3.3)
Ÿ Produced by osteoblastic cells
m Bone mineral
Ÿ Bone mineral remainder: fragile, can be crushed with fingers
Ÿ Formed on the collagen
Ÿ Made up of calcium hydroxyapatite L Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 (OH) 2
Ÿ Very large surface area of 4×105 m2 ⇒ rapid interaction with chemicals in the
blood and other boy fluids

3.2 How Strong are Your Bones?

m Shapes of bones
Ÿ Flat, plate-like bones: shoulder blade (scapula), some bones of the skull, etc.
Ÿ Long hollow bones: bones in the arms, legs, and fingers
Ÿ Cylindrical bones: bones from the spine (vertebrae)
Ÿ Irregular bones: bones from the wrist and ankle
Ÿ Other bones: ribs, etc.
m Types of bones
Ÿ Solid or compact bones
ù Found in the central shaft of bones
Ÿ Spongy or cancellous bones (trabecular bones)
ù Found at the ends of long bones
ù Weaker than compact bones
m Stress: force per unit area, σ = F A
ŸTension: pulling it apart
ŸCompression: pushing it together
ŸI beam: support beam with a less amount of material, Fig. 3.5(b)
ŸHollow cylinder: maximum strength with a less amount of material for forces
from any direction, Fig. 3.5(c)
m Strain: fractional change in length due to stress, ε = ∆L L
m Hooke’s law: σ = Yε , stress-strain diagram in Fig. 3.7

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Medical Physics Chapter 3 Physics of the Skeleton

σ LF
m Young’s modulus, Y = = : Table 3.2 and Example 3.1
ε A∆L
m Femur (Fig. 3.4)
Ÿ Hollow cylinder
Ÿ Compact bone of the shaft of the femur is thickest in the center to prevent
buckling
Ÿ Trabecular pattern at the ends Fig. 3.6
ù Strength with a less amount of material than compact bone for compressive
forces
ù Absorb more energy when large forces are involved (walking, running, and
jumping)
ù Weak for bending stresses that occur mostly in the center of long bone
m Mechanical properties of bone
Ÿ Combination of two materials (bone mineral and collagen)
ù As strong as granite in compression
ù 25 times stronger that granite under tention
Ÿ Density of compact bone
ù About 1.9 g/cm3 (1.9 times as dense as water)
ù Constant throughout life even in old age
ùIn old age, the bone becomes more porous and thinner (Fig. 3.4) ⇒ reduced
strength
Ÿ Ultimate tensile stress: 120 N/mm2 or 17,000 lb/in2
m Forces on the bone and safety factor
Ÿ Running ⇒ four times the body weight on the hip bone when the heel strikes
the ground
Ÿ Normal walking ⇒ two times the body weight on the hip bone when the heel
strikes the ground
Ÿ Stiff-legged landing ⇒ about 1.42×105 N or 32,000 lb ⇒ 215 N/mm2 (31,000
lb/in2) for each tibia with 3.3 cm2 in area at the ankle ⇒ may result in a fracture
if the force is applied for enough time
Ÿ Viscoelasticity: withstand a large force for a short period
Ÿ Safety factor
ù 10 times the maximum expected force in most engineering design
ù Ultimate compressive stress of compact bone = 170 N/mm2 (Table 3.2) ⇒
midshaft of the femur with cross-sectional area of 3.3 cm2 can withstand
about 5.7×104 N or 6 tons

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Medical Physics Chapter 3 Physics of the Skeleton

m Fractures
Ÿ Shear stress, Fig. 3.9(a) ⇒ shear or spiral fracture, compound fracture, easy to
be infected
Ÿ Tensile stress, Fig. 3.9 (c): bone has a smaller ultimate stress for tension than
compression (Table 3.2)
Ÿ Repair requires immobilization ⇒ metal prosthetic hip joints, pins, nails, etc
(Fig. 3.10)
Ÿ Electrical stimulation provides faster healing

3.3 Lubrication of Bone Joints

m Boosted lubrication
Ÿ Rough articular cartilage traps some of the synovial fluid (lubricant), Fig. 3.11
Ÿ Stress ⇒ lubricating material is squeezed into the joint from the articular
cartilage
Ÿ No stress ⇒ articular cartilage pulls back lubricating material into its holes
m Viscosity of synovial fluid: large shear stress ⇒ decreased viscosity ⇒ better
lubricant
m Coefficient of friction of a joint (Fig. 3.12)
Ÿ Independent of the load from 89 to 890 N (20 to 200 lb)
Ÿ Fat in the cartilage helps to reduce the friction
Ÿ For healthy joints, the coefficient of friction is less than 0.01 (0.03 for steel
blade on ice)
Ÿ Without synovial fluid, the coefficient of friction increases.

3.4 Measurement of Bone Mineral in the Body

m In vivo versus in vitro

m Mass of bone mineral
Ÿ Determines strength of bone
Ÿ Decreases slowly, 1 to 2% per year
Ÿ Osteoporosis: lower bone mineral mass
m Problems in measuring bone mineral mass using conventional x-ray (Fig. 3.13)
Ÿ X-ray beam has many different energies and x-ray absorption by calcium
changes with x-ray energy
Ÿ X-ray scattering

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Medical Physics Chapter 3 Physics of the Skeleton

Ÿ Film is a poor detector with nonlinear characteristics

m Measuring bone mineral mass using photon absorptiometry (Fig. 3.14)
Ÿ Monoenergetic x-ray or gamma ray
Ÿ Narrow beam to minimize scattering
Ÿ Scintillation detector
I 0*
Ÿ Fig. 3.15: bone mineral mass (BM) = k log( ) , g/cm2
I
Ÿ Modern bone scanner or bone densitometer in Fig. 3.17: reproducibility of 1 to
2%

l Homework
m Review questions: #9, #12

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