One approach is to identify a basic structure and then repeat it infinitely in three-dimensions to represent the cancellous tissue as a cellular solid. This was quite successful, and gives fundamental results explaining the power law dependence of mechanical properties on solid volume fraction. Recently, image based finite element modeling at resolutions better than the trabecular diameters has permitted estimation of the trabecular strain distribution for relatively large specimens of cancellous tissue. The estimated strain distributions are quite similar to those measured in three-dimensions from actual samples. The finite element approach also permits estimation of the hard tissue stiffness of the trabecular tissue.
Current results indicate that trabecular tissue stiffness can be quite variable between individuals.
However, the cause of the variability has not yet been determined. The stiffness of the finite element models correlates to the actual stiffness of samples better than any combination of microstructural measurements. This indicates that a modeling approach to cancellous bone mechanics based on microstructural finite element models provides a rational pathway to understanding cancellous bone mechanics in detail. However, the biological processes that create and maintain the tissue result in correspondences between the mechanical properties and microstructural parameters that are specifically related to the fitness of the tissue in the evolutionary sense. Naturally, these issues are not all understood.