Citation

Grutter R, Cordey J, Wahl D, Koller B, Regazzoni P. Injury 2000; 31(Suppl 3): C72-77.

Affiliation

AO Research Institute, Davos Platz.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11052386

Abstract

Epidemiology revealed that diaphyseal fractures of the tibia affect young people, particularly young men; no increase was noticed for the elderly. This indicates that osteoporosis does not lead to increased bone fragility. Obviously, this is a biomechanical enigma. Torque measurements were carried out on human cadaveric tibiae and revealed a great correlation between the polar moment of inertia of the cortical bone at the tibial isthmus and the ultimate torque at failure (r = 0.83) and a lesser correlation between the cross-sectional density at the isthmus and the torque at failure (r = 0.57). Therefore, the size is more important than the degree of osteoporosis. We can speculate that endosteal resorption due to osteoporosis is compensated for by periosteal apposition and therefore does not lead to bone weakness.