Alignment/Adherence Continued

Aligned mirco structures in bones--fibrils, fibril arrays all organized into 2 inch long thin osteonal structures presumably test stronger than random arrangements. And, stuck together or "adhered" fibrils provide stouter bone composite material than fibrils randomized in space surrounded by the water.

So goes my theory. Concussive pressure operating during equine speed work forces or aligns micro structures in certain (favorable) directions. We ascend a flight of stairs and can feel this alignment in our knee caps and may thus consider the sort of aligning pressure that might be occurring with a horse motoring down the free way undergoing 12,000 lbs/sq. inch of pressure in its cannons.

When pressure ceases such as between strides or at the end of the work the opposite sort of force operates which I call "bounce back". This is the inertial force that causes a structure, e.g. a branch of a tree in the wind, to revert to its former position when the wind stops blowing. In our horses post race the "branches" will have undergone tremendous forces over the course of 200 or more strides. I am thinking that bounce back, also affected by changes in bone glue proteins and compaction of the mineral lattice, will be slow but steady. The rate of bounce back will additionally be affected by the pre-race strength and conditioning.

Similarly adherence of fibrils to each other will be encouraged with each stride with similar reductions in bounce back effect as the speed work proceeds.

A safe guess might be that the "degree" of these adherence and alignment effects vary widely over the structure of the cortical and trabecular bone. But the principal is the same everywhere. The micro structures are being aligned in certain directions and pressured by the force of each stride. And, post race they will be in certain condition that probably differs in some degree to where they were pre-race.

Assuming these ideas are true in real time, the 64000 question involves the degree of change during each speed work, and what happens exactly, post race.

To answer this question I have to go back to a lot of what was covered extensively in the blog over a long period of time. I'll simply make the blanket statement that with each race I am doubting that these changes are extensive, and in mature and highly trained areas of the bone structure there may be few changes at all--i.e. the force of repeated striding is insufficient to affect the structures.

But, however small or insignificant the change in any particular area of bone resulting from e.g. a single race, the basic idea here is the tendency post race of these structures to revert to their pre-race positions. Thus, after a certain specific time post race the bone will revert to primarily to the same condition as it was pre-race.

And so, we seek to reinforce these strengthening processes by subsequent speed work. Can we e.g. wait 9 days post race for our next speed work--as many famous trainers particularly on the East Coast do--and expect to strengthen the bone? And, same analysis post race for 8 days, 7, 6, 5 on down.

How can we have any idea what is required here? Since we're unable to measure the degree of bounce back all that's left as a method is to logically consider this.