Book Description

Over the last decade, it became clear that mechanical factors, such as deformations, forces and stiffness properties have critical influence on a wide spectrum of diseases. Traditionally, since the 1960's, mechanics has been associated mainly with orthopaedics, trauma and rehabilitation as well as with cardiovascular problems, and so, the work of biomechanists was mostly related to these areas. This led, for example, to good understanding of the loading conditions at which bone fractures occur, and how bone fractures can be healed more quickly if their mechanical environment is adequately controlled (e.g. via compression plate-screw systems). However, more recently, on the 1980's-1990's, it was discovered that mechanics has much more fundamental roles and effects on biological processes, as many cell types appeared to be responsive to mechanical stimuli. This boosted biomechanical research on the effects of mechanical factors at the microscopic scale of tissues, and the fields of mechanobiology and mechanotransduction emerged. Most recently, on the 2000's, there were studies, e.g. by Dr. Valerie Weaver and colleagues (as described in this book), reporting that at the cell scale, inadequate mechanical stimuli may even provoke cancer. Hence, the role of integration between mechanics, life sciences and medicine is growing rapidly, and becomes more important by the day. What allows this integration to expand so fast is the development of sophisticated bioengineering research and analysis tools. These include highly realistic computer simulations, small animal MRI, micro-sensors, bio-reactors and many other recent breakthroughs that allow precision measurements of the mechanical conditions that apply in tissues at different levels of architectural hierarchy, whereas at the same time, close monitoring of the biological responses to these mechanical conditions became possible. This exciting atmosphere is at the background of the present book, which contains perspectives from leading scientists worldwide on the role of mechanics in injury, disease and healing. The topics covered span from bone tumors to pressure ulcers and from osteoarthritis to breast cancer, which illustrates how mechanics is now identified as the common denominator in so many important chronic conditions, as opposed to just trauma. In view of the multi-disciplinary and diverse nature of this book, I expect it to be appealing to a broad readership, obviously including biomechanists but also medical doctors, physiologists, cell biologists, physiotherapists, nurses and all those who are interested in reading on the latest developments in our journey towards understanding the complex connections between mechanics and biology.