Concurrent prediction of ground reaction forces and moments and tibiofemoral contact forces during walking using musculoskeletal modelling

The motion capture and force plates data are essential inputs for musculoskeletal multibody dynamics models to predict in vivo tibiotalar contact forces. However, it could be almost impossible to obtain valid force plates data in old patients undergoing total ankle arthroplasty under some circumstances, such as smaller gait strides and inconsistent walking speeds during gait analysis. To remove the dependence of force plates, this study has established a patient-specific musculoskeletal multibody dynamics model with total ankle arthroplasty by combining a foot-ground contact model based on elastic contact elements. And the established model could predict ground reaction forces, ground reaction moments and tibiotalar contact forces simultaneously. Three patients’ motion capture and force plates data during their normal walking were used to establish the patient-specific musculoskeletal models and evaluate the predicted ground reaction forces and ground reaction moments. Reasonable accuracies were achieved for the predicted and measured ground reaction forces and ground reaction moments. The predicted tibiotalar contact forces for all patients using the foot-ground contact model had good consistency with those using force plates data. These findings suggested that the foot-ground contact model could take the place of the force plates data for predicting the tibiotalar contact forces in other total ankle arthroplasty patients, thus providing a simplified and valid platform for further study of the patient-specific prosthetic designs and clinical problems of total ankle arthroplasty in the absence of force plates data.

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Assessment of Hindlimb Locomotor Strength in Spinal Cord Transected Rats through Animal-Robot Contact Force

Journal of Biomechanical Engineering ◽

10.1115/1.4005408 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 133 (12) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jeff A. Nessler ◽

Moustafa Moustafa-Bayoumi ◽

Dalziel Soto ◽

Jessica Duhon ◽

Ryan Schmitt

Keyword(s):

Spinal Cord ◽

Body Weight ◽

Weight Bearing ◽

Contact Forces ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

Locomotor Training ◽

Robotic Device ◽

Thoracic Spinal Cord ◽

Cord Injury ◽

Reaction Forces

Robotic locomotor training devices have gained popularity in recent years, yet little has been reported regarding contact forces experienced by the subject performing automated locomotor training, particularly in animal models of neurological injury. The purpose of this study was to develop a means for acquiring contact forces between a robotic device and a rodent model of spinal cord injury through instrumentation of a robotic gait training device (the rat stepper) with miniature force/torque sensors. Sensors were placed at each interface between the robot arm and animal’s hindlimb and underneath the stepping surface of both hindpaws (four sensors total). Twenty four female, Sprague-Dawley rats received mid-thoracic spinal cord transections as neonates and were included in the study. Of these 24 animals, training began for 18 animals at 21 days of age and continued for four weeks at five min/day, five days/week. The remaining six animals were untrained. Animal-robot contact forces were acquired for trained animals weekly and untrained animals every two weeks while stepping in the robotic device with both 60 and 90% of their body weight supported (BWS). Animals that received training significantly increased the number of weight supported steps over the four week training period. Analysis of raw contact forces revealed significant increases in forward swing and ground reaction forces during this time, and multiple aspects of animal-robot contact forces were significantly correlated with weight bearing stepping. However, when contact forces were normalized to animal body weight, these increasing trends were no longer present. Comparison of trained and untrained animals revealed significant differences in normalized ground reaction forces (both horizontal and vertical) and normalized forward swing force. Finally, both forward swing and ground reaction forces were significantly reduced at 90% BWS when compared to the 60% condition. These results suggest that measurement of animal-robot contact forces using the instrumented rat stepper can provide a sensitive and reliable measure of hindlimb locomotor strength and control of flexor and extensor muscle activity in neurologically impaired animals. Additionally, these measures may be useful as a means to quantify training intensity or dose-related functional outcomes of automated training.

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Contribution of passive actions to the lower limb joint moments and powers during gait: A comparison of models

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part H Journal of Engineering in Medicine ◽

10.1177/0954411918785661 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 232 (8) ◽

pp. 768-778 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Xavier Gasparutto ◽

Eric Jacquelin ◽

Raphael Dumas

Keyword(s):

Lower Limb ◽

Significant Contribution ◽

Contact Forces ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

Joint Moments ◽

Passive Joint ◽

Musculoskeletal Models ◽

Reaction Forces ◽

The Right ◽

Joint Limits

The lower limb passive actions representing the actions of all the passive periarticular structures have been shown to have a significant contribution to the power generation and absorption during gait. However, the respective magnitude of its different components was not established, although models of ligament moment were implemented in some musculoskeletal models. These ligament moments have shown to have an influence on the musculo-tendon forces and contact forces but the models used were never specifically evaluated, that is, compared to the passive and net joint moments. Two models of passive joint moments and three models of ligament moments were selected from the literature. Ten subjects (23–29 years old, 79.8 ± 9.5 kg, 1.85 ± 0.06 m) participated in the study. Each subject performed three gait cycles in a gait laboratory to acquire the kinematics and ground reaction forces and to compute the ligament, passive and net moments of the right lower limb joints. The contributions of the passive joint moments to the net joint moments were in accordance with the literature, although time shifts appeared for peaks in the hip and knee powers. Two of the models of ligament moments seemed, in fact, to represent the passive joint moments as their contributions were very similar while the third model of ligament moments seemed to represent only penalty-based joint limits. As a conclusion, this study showed that the models of ligament moments existing in the literature do not seem reliable. This study also demonstrated that the use of non-subject-specific models of the passive joint moments could be a valid approach for healthy subjects.

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Effect of Motion Type on Joint Contact Forces

Volume 3: Biomedical and Biotechnology Engineering ◽

10.1115/imece2019-10980 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Anne Schmitz ◽

Jaclyn Norberg

Keyword(s):

Force Plate ◽

Secondary Analysis ◽

Contact Forces ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

Joint Forces ◽

Joint Contact ◽

Reaction Forces ◽

Race Walking ◽

Impact Exercise ◽

Dynamics Simulations

Abstract Race walking has grown over the past decade because it provides exercise without the high impact loads of running. In fact, race walking has been shown to result in decreased ground reaction forces. We predict these lower ground reaction forces will extend to knee joint loading as well, thus explaining the decrease rate of knee osteoarthritis in race walkers compared to runners. This is a secondary analysis of instrumented motion capture data collected from fifteen competitive race walkers as they ran and race walked over a force plate. A Visual3D to OpenSim pipeline was used to create muscle actuated forward dynamics simulations of race walking and running. The resulting muscle forces were subsequently used to actuate a discrete element knee model to calculate joint forces. The peak tibiofemoral joint contact load during race walking was 18% lower than the load during running. This load was distributed between the medial and lateral compartments such that the medial load was 27% lower and the lateral load 35% lower in race walking. This suggests race walking is a lower impact exercise safer for the joints. This may be advantageous for people who would like to exercise at a higher intensity that walking provides but have joint problems, e.g. those with osteoarthritis.

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Validation of Knee Load Predictions During a Dual Limb Squat and Calfrise

ASME 2012 Summer Bioengineering Conference, Parts A and B ◽

10.1115/sbc2012-80644 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Trent M. Guess ◽

Antonis Stylianou ◽

Mohammad Kia

Keyword(s):

Reaction Force ◽

Contact Forces ◽

Grand Challenge ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

Data Set ◽

Prosthetic Knee ◽

Knee Loading ◽

Model Predictions ◽

Reaction Forces

Knowledge of knee loading would benefit prosthetic design, development of tissue engineered materials, orthopedic repair, and management of degenerative joint diseases such as osteoarthritis. Musculoskeletal modeling provides a method for estimating in vivo joint loading, but validation of model predictions is challenging. Data provided by the “Grand Challenge Competition to Predict In-Vivo Knee Loads” for the 2012 American Society of Mechanical Engineers Summer Bioengineering Conference [1] provides data from an instrumented prosthetic knee that can be used to validate load predictions. The Grand Challenge data set includes implant and bone geometries, motion, ground reaction forces, electromyography (EMG) as well as measured knee loading. Presented here are muscle driven forward dynamics simulations with a prosthetic knee for two of the calibration gait trials (SC_2legsquat and SC_calfrise) provided with the Grand Challenge data set. The calibration trials include the instrumented knee measurements and are provided to help “calibrate” models used in the Grand Challenge competition. Inputs to model simulations were experimental marker motion and outputs included muscle force, ground reaction forces, ligament forces, contact forces, and knee loading. Experimental measurements of knee loading, ground reaction force, and muscle activations were compared to model predictions.

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Running ground reaction forces across footwear conditions are predicted from the motion of two body mass components

Journal of Applied Physiology ◽

10.1152/japplphysiol.00925.2018 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 126 (5) ◽

pp. 1315-1325 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Andrew B. Udofa ◽

Kenneth P. Clark ◽

Laurence J. Ryan ◽

Peter G. Weyand

Keyword(s):

Ground Reaction Force ◽

Lower Limb ◽

Reaction Force ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

Vertical Ground Reaction Force ◽

Time Patterns ◽

Foot Strike ◽

Reaction Forces ◽

Vertical Ground ◽

Force Time

Although running shoes alter foot-ground reaction forces, particularly during impact, how they do so is incompletely understood. Here, we hypothesized that footwear effects on running ground reaction force-time patterns can be accurately predicted from the motion of two components of the body’s mass (mb): the contacting lower-limb (m1 = 0.08mb) and the remainder (m2 = 0.92mb). Simultaneous motion and vertical ground reaction force-time data were acquired at 1,000 Hz from eight uninstructed subjects running on a force-instrumented treadmill at 4.0 and 7.0 m/s under four footwear conditions: barefoot, minimal sole, thin sole, and thick sole. Vertical ground reaction force-time patterns were generated from the two-mass model using body mass and footfall-specific measures of contact time, aerial time, and lower-limb impact deceleration. Model force-time patterns generated using the empirical inputs acquired for each footfall matched the measured patterns closely across the four footwear conditions at both protocol speeds ( r2 = 0.96 ± 0.004; root mean squared error = 0.17 ± 0.01 body-weight units; n = 275 total footfalls). Foot landing angles (θF) were inversely related to footwear thickness; more positive or plantar-flexed landing angles coincided with longer-impact durations and force-time patterns lacking distinct rising-edge force peaks. Our results support three conclusions: 1) running ground reaction force-time patterns across footwear conditions can be accurately predicted using our two-mass, two-impulse model, 2) impact forces, regardless of foot strike mechanics, can be accurately quantified from lower-limb motion and a fixed anatomical mass (0.08mb), and 3) runners maintain similar loading rates (ΔFvertical/Δtime) across footwear conditions by altering foot strike angle to regulate the duration of impact. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Here, we validate a two-mass, two-impulse model of running vertical ground reaction forces across four footwear thickness conditions (barefoot, minimal, thin, thick). Our model allows the impact portion of the impulse to be extracted from measured total ground reaction force-time patterns using motion data from the ankle. The gait adjustments observed across footwear conditions revealed that runners maintained similar loading rates across footwear conditions by altering foot strike angles to regulate the duration of impact.

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Estimation of Ground Reaction Forces Based on Knee Joint Acceleration of Lower-Limb Exoskeletons

2020 International Automatic Control Conference (CACS) ◽

10.1109/cacs50047.2020.9289732 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tesheng Hsiao ◽

Kinglam Yip ◽

Yun-Jen Chiu

Keyword(s):

Knee Joint ◽

Lower Limb ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

Reaction Forces ◽

Joint Acceleration

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Ground Reaction Forces of Dressage Horses Performing the Piaffe

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani11020436 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 436 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hilary Mary Clayton ◽

Sarah Jane Hobbs

Keyword(s):

Coefficient Of Variation ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Individual Variability ◽

The Other ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

High Coefficient ◽

Reaction Forces

The piaffe is an artificial, diagonally coordinated movement performed in the highest levels of dressage competition. The ground reaction forces (GRFs) of horses performing the piaffe do not appear to have been reported. Therefore, the objective of this study was to describe three-dimensional GRFs in ridden dressage horses performing the piaffe. In-ground force plates were used to capture fore and hindlimb GRF data from seven well-trained dressage horses. Peak vertical GRF was significantly higher in forelimbs than in the hindlimbs (7.39 ± 0.99 N/kg vs. 6.41 ± 0.64 N/kg; p < 0.001) with vertical impulse showing a trend toward higher forelimb values. Peak longitudinal forces were small with no difference in the magnitude of braking or propulsive forces between fore and hindlimbs. Peak transverse forces were similar in magnitude to longitudinal forces and were mostly directed medially in the hindlimbs. Both the intra- and inter-individual variability of longitudinal and transverse GRFs were high (coefficient of variation 25–68%). Compared with the other diagonal gaits of dressage horses, the vertical GRF somewhat shifted toward the hindlimbs. The high step-to-step variability of the horizontal GRF components is thought to reflect the challenge of balancing on one diagonal pair of limbs with no forward momentum.

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