Utility of Cortical Bone Tissue Properties in the Assessment of Fracture Risk

"The Osteoprobe: Since these first reports of indentation measurements in humans in vivo, a more 'user-friendly' device, the Osteoprobe® has been developed by Active Life Scientific (Santa Barbara, CA) (10). The Osteoprobe®, which we will use in the current study, is smaller than the previous reference point indentation (RPI) instrument and is designed to be used in a hand-held fashion to allow for rapid measurements. The new instrument does not require a reference probe, because the inertia of the instrument keeps it adequately fixed in space during the short time of the indentation impact (\~0.25 milliseconds). The main parameter measured is the distance that the probe further indents into the bone from the reference point. Key components of the Osteoprobe® include an impact generation mechanism, a displacement transducer, and a probe made of hardened stainless steel with a 90 degree conical tip, with a tip diameter of \~375 µm."