Effect of the accordion technique on bone regeneration during distraction osteogenesis: A computational study

•A major issue of distraction osteogenesis (DO) is the prolonged consolidation phase.•An alternating distraction and compression strategy (accordion technique; AT) was explored to accelerate bone healing during DO.•Different AT modes of varied application times, durations and rates were examined with an experimentally-validated in silico mechanobiological model.•Therapeutic effects of AT on DO were highly dependent of the AT parameters of choice.•Under appropriate durations and rates, AT applied at an early consolidation stage significantly enhanced bone formation and reduced the overall healing time.