Second metatarsal stress fractures are a problematic injury for runners and are formed when the
rate of repair of bone is outpaced by the damage accumulated during loading. Measuring the
peak stresses on the bone during running gives an indication of damage accumulation but direct measurement is invasive. Finite element modelling is ...
Second metatarsal stress fractures are a problematic injury for runners and are formed when the
rate of repair of bone is outpaced by the damage accumulated during loading. Measuring the
peak stresses on the bone during running gives an indication of damage accumulation but direct measurement is invasive. Finite element modelling is a viable alternative method of accurately estimating bone stresses but tends to be too computationally expensive for use in applied
research. This study presents a novel and simple finite element model which can estimate bone
stresses on the second metatarsal during the stance phase of walking and running, accounting
for joint reaction forces and soft tissue effects. The influence of the forces and kinematic inputs
to the model and the presence of the soft tissues was quantified using a sensitivity analysis. The
magnitudes of maximum stress from the model are similar to existing finite element models
and bone staple strain gauge values collected during walking and running. The model was
found to be most sensitive to the pitch angle of the metatarsal and the joint reaction forces
and was less sensitive to the ground reaction forces under the metatarsal head, suggesting that
direct measurement of external forces should not be assumed to represent internal stresses.
