B13
Bone Smither
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2026
- Posts
- 63
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- 147
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BONESMASHING - THE SCIENCE NOBODY ACTUALLY READS
what it does, what it doesnt do, and why wolff's law has nothing to do with it
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BONESMASHING - THE SCIENCE NOBODY ACTUALLY READS
what it does, what it doesnt do, and why wolff's law has nothing to do with it
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flagging throughout what's hard science vs theory. not greying this out with vague claims.
THE WOLFF'S LAW CITATIONS ARE WRONG
every bonesmashing thread cites it. and the rets citing it have clearly never read past the wikipedia summary because the actual mechanism kills the whole argument.
wolff's law is real. bone adapts to load, not cope, BUT actual orthopedics. the problem is it works through osteocytes (cells embedded inside the bone matrix itself, not on the surface). they sit in a network called the lacunocanalicular system. when bone physically bends or compresses, fluid moves through that network, osteocytes detect it, signal osteoblasts to build more bone there.
three things this requires that hitting your face doesn't give you:
- strain in a specific window - frost's mechanostat puts the osteogenic threshold at 1500-3000 microstrain. blunt surface impact doesn't translate to directed cortical strain at those levels. force eats itself through soft tissue before the bone feels anything meaningful.
- loading through the bone itself - you're hitting tissue and periosteum over the bone. the mechanosensors are inside the cortex, you're NOT reaching them
- months to years of sustained cyclic loading - not your every tuesday session jfl
honest caveat: repeated periosteal trauma CAN trigger reactive bone formation similar to stress fracture progression, this is technically real, but it requires the bone to actually be in the loading path (tibia during running, etc). zero published evidence for it on craniofacial bone from external blunt force. citing those studies for bonesmashing is grey.
WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING TO YOUR FACE
0-72 hours: vasodilation, plasma leaks into the tissue, you get edema. water and white blood cells, this is what the 24 hour progress photos are showing. if you're posting results at day 1 you are an actual newgen grey, stop.
days to weeks: macrophages dump growth factors (PDGF, TGF-b, FGF). fibroblasts show up and start laying down collagen type III - soft disorganized scar tissue. matures into collagen type I over weeks. this is subperiosteal fibrosis. scar tissue between the periosteum and the soft tissue over your bone. NOT EVEN CLOSE TO BONE.
weeks to months: collagen cross-links, the tissue over the bone gets denser and slightly thicker. sometimes old subperiosteal hematomas calcify - heterotopic ossification. looks irregular, not what anyone means when they say bone growth.
what people are actually seeing in their results: the soft tissue envelope sitting slightly differently over the same bone because fibrosis made it thicker. apparent projection can shift slightly, the bone underneath has little to no change, you are looking at scar tissue and calling it "gains."
CAULIFLOWER EAR - YOUR ACTUAL RESULT MODEL
look at any career mma fighter's ears. this is not theoretical, subperichondrial hematoma cycling into fibrosis repeatedly. this is the same class of process as what's happening on your face when you bonesmash.
cauliflower ear is NOT cartilage growth, it's fibrotic remodeling. the tissue envelope around it permanently restructures from repeated fibrosis cycles.
- repeated trauma to zygo = subperiosteal hematoma = fibrosis = thicker tissue over existing zygo, not zygo growth.
- repeated trauma to brow ridge = same thing
- repeated trauma to chin = subcutaneous fibrosis, not projection.
cauliflower ear guys don't look good. that is your result model.
WHERE THE THEORY HAS LEGS VS WHERE IT DOESN'T
not completely made up:
- inflammatory cascade does include some osteoblast-signaling cytokines. body gets a weak remodeling signal.
- subperiosteal fibrosis does slightly change how tissue drapes over existing bone. apparent projection can shift.
- periosteal stimulation is real - it just requires sustained load not acute trauma to trigger anything meaningful.
completely made up:
- calling it wolff's law. the mechanism doesn't match at all.
- the 24 hour progress photos that's edema aka inflammation
- the claim that adult craniofacial bone remodels predictably from external blunt trauma, there is zero published human evidence
- adult facial bone has thinner cortex, different mechanosensory response, and you're not loading it axially where force actually reaches osteocytes. the long bone studies everyone links are not about this.
citing those studies for bonesmashing is either grey or deliberate misinformation depending on whether the poster knows the difference
THE RISKS - NOT COPE, ACTUAL ANATOMY
Tread lightly with this section, I am only including this so you can UNDERSTAND real risks with bonesmashing some sensitive areas, correlation ≠ causation which is why I am not guaranteeing any of these risks.
infraorbital nerve
exits through the infraorbital foramen directly below the orbital rim through the cheek, the exact spot people hit for zygo work. supplies lower eyelid, cheek, side of nose, upper lip and upper teeth. cumulative blunt trauma here risks:
- infraorbital neuralgia - chronic nerve pain
- paresthesia - permanent numbness and tingling in that distribution
- full sensory deficit
nerve damage from repeated blunt trauma is cumulative and quiet until it's already bad
supraorbital and supratrochlear nerves
exit at the superior orbital rim. exactly where brow ridge work is done. damage means frontal scalp numbness and supraorbital neuralgia - a chronic pain condition that's notoriously treatment resistant. not a minor risk.
orbital blowout fracture
the orbital floor is 0.5-1mm thick in most people. blunt force to the orbital rim transmits directly to orbital contents. blowout fractures are documented from ball-strike level force in sports medicine. outcomes:
- inferior rectus muscle entrapment
- permanent double vision (diplopia)
- enophthalmos - the eye sinking into the socket
- traumatic vitreous hemorrhage
the scar tissue is permanent
dense subperiosteal fibrosis doesn't reverse without surgery. it can produce irregular fullness instead of clean projection, visible asymmetry, and changed expression dynamics as tissue adheres to underlying bone. the bad outcomes don't get posted, the 6 month update threads that never appear are this.
WHAT ACTUALLY USES THE REAL MECHANISM
mewing
unfortunately I have to include as it does do this especially during puberty. sustained compressive load through the tongue to the palate. mechanosensory pathway is actually intact here. palatal suture doesn't fully fuse until late 20s in most people so the window is longer than most think. actual evidence base in orthotropics literature.
hard chewing
cyclic masticatory force through the mandible and maxilla via the teeth. sustained, directed, repeated loading through the bone, literally what wolff's law requires. masseter hypertrophy on top of that, mastic gum is not a cope or a joke.
dermarolling
if you want the collagen and fibrosis benefit without blunt force anywhere near cranial nerves and orbital contents, microneedling hits the same fibroblast recruitment pathway at controlled depth with a predictable outcome.
adult bone structure is largely set. what you can actually move the needle on:
- soft tissue density and thickness over bone - weeks to months
- skin collagen quality from dermarolling - noticeable in 1-3 months
- masseter from chewing - visible in months
- facial puffiness as systemic inflammation drops - weeks
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sources: Turner CH (1998) Bone 23(5) | Frost HM (2003) Anat Rec 275A | Bonewald LF (2011) JBMR | Robling AG et al (2006) J Biol Chem | Lanyon & Rubin (1984) J Biomech | Meyers C et al (2019) JBMR Plus | Rhee JS et al (2002) Arch Facial Plast Surg | Pareja & Sjaastad (1994) Headache
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sources: Turner CH (1998) Bone 23(5) | Frost HM (2003) Anat Rec 275A | Bonewald LF (2011) JBMR | Robling AG et al (2006) J Biol Chem | Lanyon & Rubin (1984) J Biomech | Meyers C et al (2019) JBMR Plus | Rhee JS et al (2002) Arch Facial Plast Surg | Pareja & Sjaastad (1994) Headache
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