Bones and joints are always under mechanical loading a key concept in understanding bone metabolism. Among the most common diseases of bones and joints in the elderly are osteoporosis and joint osteoarthritis. Dynamic changes in mechanical loading give rise to problems resulting in stenosis of the spinal column at the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar levels. Mechanical loading also accelerates joint destruction caused by inflammation from such conditions as chronic rheumatoid arthritis. An understanding of mechanical loading is essential therefore to clinicians, basic researchers, and engineers...

This book presents our experience in the operative treatment of bone and soft-tissue tumors arising in and around the pelvis, from 1970 to 1999 in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Niigata University Medical Hospital. Histological diagnoses included both benign and malignant tumors. Surgical plan ning was difficult to perform in our early experience in operative treatment, when only angiography and barium enemas were in use. In the meantime, computed tomog raphy scanning and magnetic resonance imaging became available. Subsequent improvement in the quality of these images made...