Adaptive bone remodeling incorporating simultaneous density and anisotropy considerations

Over 100 years ago, Wolff hypothesized that cancellous bone altered both its apparent density and trabecular orientation in response to mechanical loads. A mathematical counterpart of this principle is derived by adding a remodeling rule for the rate-of-change of the full anisotropic stiffness tensor (all 21 independent terms) to the density rate-of-change rule adapted from an existing isotropic theory. As a result, anisotropy and density...