Advancements of Nano-Hydroxyapatite in Sports Medicine from Bone Injury Perspectives

Nanotechnology has revolutionized the field of biology and medicine in the 21 st century. Bone injury incidences during sports activities are common, and they are traditionally treated with allogeneic grafting, a common clinical practice but limited by the quality of the graft and some side effects. Nano-hydroxyapatite(nHA) is considered as an ideal bone graft material owing to its bone-like structure, excellent biological activity, bone conductivity, non-toxicity, and non-immunogenicity. nHA and its composite materials have been found suitable for the adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells, which leads to their potential applications in treating the bone injury. In this review, we classified different applications of nHA to explore the role of these materials in bone repair and tendon healing, highlighting the superior characteristics of nanomaterials in the treatment of bone injury, hoping to provide ideas for nHA applied to clinical practices for the treatment of bone injury.