Most of his research is aimed at the evaluation of bone structural and mechanical properties for the study of bone diseases (osteoporosis) and implant failure. He has developed a new computational approach for mechanical analysis of bone structures from high-resolution images, and over the last decade his work has focused on clinical applications of this approach for improved diagnosis of bone fracture risk. Apart from bone fracture risk diagnosis, it is also important to predict how this fracture risk may develop as the results of aging, pharmacological treatments or orthopedic surgery. Van Rietbergen aims at predicting this by developing computational models based on mechanical and biological principles that are validated relative to data obtained from clinical studies. In recent projects Van Rietbergen is concerned with patient specific prognosis of the risk of bone fracture, multiscale approaches to predict bone remodeling, the analysis of surgical procedures such as used for correction/stabilization of skeletal deformities/fractures and the application of biomaterials.