The role of muscular weakness in pathogenesis of osteoporosis in the elderly

Muscular weakness may alter the mechanical stress flow in bones, thereby interrupting the homeostatic conditions for normal bone mass maintenance. In this study, we developed a biomechanical model of a typical planar trabecular lattice at the femoral neck for predicting long-term changes in trabecular thickness and mechanical properties at this site, under muscular weakness. A combination of hip joint loads lower than 20% the normal load and gluteus force outputs lower than 60% the normal force output resulted in osteoporotic bone structure in terms of morphology, strength and stiffness.