| dc.description.abstract | Bone fractures, which occur as a result of greater traumas or structural damages due to extensive use, lead to significant economic losses in equestrian sport and horse racing. Nevertheless, there is no adequate method at present to accurately assess fracture risk in horses.
Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), which has come to the center of researchers’ and practitioners’ attention in medical science in the past two decades, may play a pivotal role in fracture risk evaluation. This technique, which has already become standard practice in human medicine, is not yet applied widely in veterinary science and equine medical practice. Its use has been mainly limited to ex vivo research; the development of technology which can be used for in vivo examinations is still underway.
Biomechanics is a science that examines and models the mechanic operation and features of the body’s supporting structures. It studies, for example, the breaking, bending, stretching, and rotating features of bones.
Due to the large number of factors and parameters that contribute to the results of biomechanical analyses, as well as the limitations of measurement techniques, the examination of the bone’s biomechanical qualities is a very difficult task. Although researchers try to reproduce as much as possible the parameters that are present under in vivo loading circumstances, there are a number of difficulties to tackle with in the course of these tests, such as the heterogeneity of the bone’s physical features and the complications that arise from the asymmetry of bones. | en |
