Editorial: Mechanical Loading and Bone

This Research Topic comprises 11 interesting and topical articles describing amixture of clinical and laboratory approaches to howmechanical loading influences the skeleton. Of the five clinical papers, those by Tobias et al. and Janz et al. address important methodological issues concerning the use of accelerometers to record physical activity in a way that is relevant to mechanical loading of bone. Two separate papers by Toshihiro Sugiyama et al. discuss how understanding of skeletal responses to mechanical loading can help interpret the mechanism of action of bone anabolic drugs. The paper by Zengin et al. illustrates how understanding of mechanical loading responses can be used to interpret ethnic differences in skeletal structure. Of the six laboratory papers, those by Meakin et al. and Vazquez et al. focus on methodological approaches to study mechanical loading in vivo and in vitro, respectively. Four of the papers explore the mechanisms involved in mediating different aspects ofmechanical loading responses of bone.García-López et al. report their findings concerning the mechanisms involved in the inhibition of bone resorption by cyclical mechanical strain in vitro; Kang and Robling review the role of the Wnt pathway in mechanotransduction; Alzahrani et al. review the mechanisms involved in distraction osteogenesis; and Betts and Müller review theories and models of mechanical regulation of bone regeneration after bone injury.