A Muscle/Ligament Model to Predict Loads on L5/S1 during Three Dimensional Lifting

Author(s):  
Bryan Kirking

A muscle / ligament model was constructed to estimate the spinal load that resulted from both muscle and ligament sources during dynamic, three dimensional lifting tasks. The model was tested using data from ten subjects performing lifts over a range of realistic industrial conditions (velocity: 10, 20, or 30 degrees / second; asymmetry: 0, 15, or 30 degrees; and weight lifted: 13.6 or 22.7 Kg). During the task, three dimensional trunk position, trunk velocity, the reaction forces, the reaction moments, and the electromyography of the major trunk musculature were collected. Ligaments were represented in the model as vectors spanning the lumbar spine, with their stress—strain properties taken from the literature. The muscle components were modeled based on the OSU Biodynamic EMG assisted model but excluded any effect not resulting solely from active force generation. Thus, the trunk muscles were also represented by vectors spanning the lumbar spine. For each subject, the model was calibrated for both muscle and ligament moment generation by comparing the predicted moment to the measured applied moment in regions where the appropriate moment component has been shown to dominate. The muscle / ligament model was found to predict the moment at L5/S1 at least as accurately as the muscle—only model (the previously reported OSU Biodynamic EMG assisted model which indirectly combines ligament effects into the muscle effects). Both models predicted moment with an average R square value of 0.8, and average error of 23 N m (p > 0.05). For symmetric upright postures, there was no influence of ligaments so both models predicted similar compression of about 1675 N m. As asymmetry or flexion angle increased, the muscle / ligament model predicted higher compression as a result of the smaller moment arms of the ligaments. In the most extreme posture (40 degrees flexion with 30 degrees asymmetry), the predicted compression from the muscle / ligament model (4250 N) was significantly larger than the muscle—only model (3680N). Finally, all asymmetric conditions resulted in predictions from the muscle / ligament model that exceeded the NIOSH 3400 N tolerance, but only the most asymmetric condition resulted in predictions from the muscle—only model that exceeded the NIOSH limit. Thus, muscle models that do not account for ligament effects may be ineffective in accurately evaluating compression during certain job tasks.

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R Hutchinson ◽  
Jeffery W Rankin ◽  
Jonas Rubenson ◽  
Kate H Rosenbluth ◽  
Robert A Siston ◽  
...  

We developed a three-dimensional, biomechanical computer model of the 36 major pelvic limb muscle groups in an ostrich (Struthio camelus) to investigate muscle function in this, the largest of extant birds and model organism for many studies of locomotor mechanics, body size, anatomy and evolution. Combined with experimental data, we use this model to test two main hypotheses. We first query whether ostriches use limb orientations (joint angles) that optimize the moment-generating capacities of their muscles during walking or running. Next, we test whether ostriches use limb orientations at mid-stance that keep their extensor muscles near maximal, and flexor muscles near minimal, moment arms. Our two hypotheses relate to the control priorities that a large bipedal animal might evolve under biomechanical constraints to achieve more effective static weight support. We find that ostriches do not use limb orientations to optimize the moment-generating capacities or moment arms of their muscles. We infer that dynamic properties of muscles or tendons might be better candidates for locomotor optimization. Regardless, general principles explaining why species choose particular joint orientations during locomotion are lacking, raising the question of whether such general principles exist or if clades evolve different patterns (e.g. weighting of muscle force-length or force-velocity properties in selecting postures). This leaves theoretical studies of muscle moment arms estimated for extinct animals at an impasse until studies of extant taxa answer these questions. Finally, we compare our model’s results against those of two prior studies of ostrich limb muscle moment arms, finding general agreement for many muscles. Some flexor and extensor muscles exhibit self-stabilization patterns (posture-dependent switches between flexor/extensor action) that ostriches may use to coordinate their locomotion. However, some conspicuous areas of disagreement in our results illustrate some cautionary principles. Importantly, tendon-travel empirical measurements of muscle moment arms must be carefully designed to preserve 3D muscle geometry lest their accuracy suffer relative to that of anatomically realistic models. The dearth of accurate experimental measurements of 3D moment arms of muscles in birds leaves uncertainty regarding the relative accuracy of different modelling or experimental datasets such as in ostriches. Our model, however, provides a comprehensive set of 3D estimates of muscle actions in ostriches for the first time, emphasizing that avian limb mechanics are highly three-dimensional and complex, and how no muscles act purely in the sagittal plane. A comparative synthesis of experiments and models such as ours could provide powerful synthesis into how anatomy, mechanics and control interact during locomotion and how these interactions evolve. Such a framework could remove obstacles impeding the analysis of muscle function in extinct taxa.


PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Otero ◽  
Vivian Allen ◽  
Diego Pol ◽  
John R. Hutchinson

Many of the major locomotor transitions during the evolution of Archosauria, the lineage including crocodiles and birds as well as extinct Dinosauria, were shifts from quadrupedalism to bipedalism (and vice versa). Those occurred within a continuum between more sprawling and erect modes of locomotion and involved drastic changes of limb anatomy and function in several lineages, including sauropodomorph dinosaurs. We present biomechanical computer models of two locomotor extremes within Archosauria in an analysis of joint ranges of motion and the moment arms of the major forelimb muscles in order to quantify biomechanical differences between more sprawling, pseudosuchian (represented the crocodile Crocodylus johnstoni) and more erect, dinosaurian (represented by the sauropodomorph Mussaurus patagonicus) modes of forelimb function. We compare these two locomotor extremes in terms of the reconstructed musculoskeletal anatomy, ranges of motion of the forelimb joints and the moment arm patterns of muscles across those ranges of joint motion. We reconstructed the three-dimensional paths of 30 muscles acting around the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints. We explicitly evaluate how forelimb joint mobility and muscle actions may have changed with postural and anatomical alterations from basal archosaurs to early sauropodomorphs. We thus evaluate in which ways forelimb posture was correlated with muscle leverage, and how such differences fit into a broader evolutionary context (i.e. transition from sprawling quadrupedalism to erect bipedalism and then shifting to graviportal quadrupedalism). Our analysis reveals major differences of muscle actions between the more sprawling and erect models at the shoulder joint. These differences are related not only to the articular surfaces but also to the orientation of the scapula, in which extension/flexion movements in Crocodylus (e.g. protraction of the humerus) correspond to elevation/depression in Mussaurus. Muscle action is highly influenced by limb posture, more so than morphology. Habitual quadrupedalism in Mussaurus is not supported by our analysis of joint range of motion, which indicates that glenohumeral protraction was severely restricted. Additionally, some active pronation of the manus may have been possible in Mussaurus, allowing semi-pronation by a rearranging of the whole antebrachium (not the radius against the ulna, as previously thought) via long-axis rotation at the elbow joint. However, the muscles acting around this joint to actively pronate it may have been too weak to drive or maintain such orientations as opposed to a neutral position in between pronation and supination. Regardless, the origin of quadrupedalism in Sauropoda is not only linked to manus pronation but also to multiple shifts of forelimb morphology, allowing greater flexion movements of the glenohumeral joint and a more columnar forelimb posture.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. eabe2778
Author(s):  
V. R. Allen ◽  
B. M. Kilbourne ◽  
J. R. Hutchinson

Bipedal locomotion evolved along the archosaurian lineage to birds, shifting from “hip-based” to “knee-based” mechanisms. However, the roles of individual muscles in these changes and their evolutionary timings remain obscure. Using 13 three-dimensional musculoskeletal models of the hindlimbs of bird-line archosaurs, we quantify how the moment arms (i.e., leverages) of 35 locomotor muscles evolved. Our results support two hypotheses: From early theropod dinosaurs to birds, knee flexors’ moment arms decreased relative to knee extensors’, and medial long-axis rotator moment arms for the hip increased (trading off with decreased hip abductor moment arms). Our results reveal how, from the Triassic Period, bipedal theropod dinosaurs gradually modified their hindlimb form and function, shifting more from hip-based to knee-based locomotion and hip-abductor to hip-rotator balancing mechanisms inherited by birds. Yet, we also discover unexpected ancestral specializations in larger Jurassic theropods, lost later in the bird-line, complicating the paradigm of gradual transformation.


2002 ◽  
Vol 205 (14) ◽  
pp. 1987-2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Kargo ◽  
Lawrence C. Rome

SUMMARY Musculoskeletal models have become important tools in understanding motor control issues ranging from how muscles power movement to how sensory feedback supports movements. In the present study, we developed the initial musculotendon subsystem of a realistic model of the frog Rana pipiens. We measured the anatomical properties of 13 proximal muscles in the frog hindlimb and incorporated these measurements into a set of musculotendon actuators. We examined whether the interaction between this musculotendon subsystem and a previously developed skeleton/joint subsystem captured the passive behavior of the real frog's musculoskeletal system. To do this, we compared the moment arms of musculotendon complexes measured experimentally with moment arms predicted by the model. We also compared sarcomere lengths measured experimentally at the starting and take-off positions of a jump with sarcomere lengths predicted by the model at these same limb positions. On the basis of the good fit of the experimental data, we used the model to describe the multi-joint mechanical effects produced by contraction of each hindlimb muscle and to predict muscle trajectories during a range of limb behaviors (wiping, defensive kicking, swimming and jumping). Through these analyses, we show that all hindlimb muscles have multiple functions with respect to accelerating the limb in its three-dimensional workspace and that the balance of functions depends greatly on limb configuration. In addition, we show that muscles have multiple, task-specific functions with respect to the type of contraction performed. The results of this study provide important data regarding the multifunctional role of hindlimb muscles in the frog and form a foundation upon which additional model subsystems (e.g. neural) and more sophisticated muscle models can be appended.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R Hutchinson ◽  
Jeffery W Rankin ◽  
Jonas Rubenson ◽  
Kate H Rosenbluth ◽  
Robert A Siston ◽  
...  

We developed a three-dimensional, biomechanical computer model of the 36 major pelvic limb muscle groups in an ostrich (Struthio camelus) to investigate muscle function in this, the largest of extant birds and model organism for many studies of locomotor mechanics, body size, anatomy and evolution. Combined with experimental data, we use this model to test two main hypotheses. We first query whether ostriches use limb orientations (joint angles) that optimize the moment-generating capacities of their muscles during walking or running. Next, we test whether ostriches use limb orientations at mid-stance that keep their extensor muscles near maximal, and flexor muscles near minimal, moment arms. Our two hypotheses relate to the control priorities that a large bipedal animal might evolve under biomechanical constraints to achieve more effective static weight support. We find that ostriches do not use limb orientations to optimize the moment-generating capacities or moment arms of their muscles. We infer that dynamic properties of muscles or tendons might be better candidates for locomotor optimization. Regardless, general principles explaining why species choose particular joint orientations during locomotion are lacking, raising the question of whether such general principles exist or if clades evolve different patterns (e.g. weighting of muscle force-length or force-velocity properties in selecting postures). This leaves theoretical studies of muscle moment arms estimated for extinct animals at an impasse until studies of extant taxa answer these questions. Finally, we compare our model’s results against those of two prior studies of ostrich limb muscle moment arms, finding general agreement for many muscles. Some flexor and extensor muscles exhibit self-stabilization patterns (posture-dependent switches between flexor/extensor action) that ostriches may use to coordinate their locomotion. However, some conspicuous areas of disagreement in our results illustrate some cautionary principles. Importantly, tendon-travel empirical measurements of muscle moment arms must be carefully designed to preserve 3D muscle geometry lest their accuracy suffer relative to that of anatomically realistic models. The dearth of accurate experimental measurements of 3D moment arms of muscles in birds leaves uncertainty regarding the relative accuracy of different modelling or experimental datasets such as in ostriches. Our model, however, provides a comprehensive set of 3D estimates of muscle actions in ostriches for the first time, emphasizing that avian limb mechanics are highly three-dimensional and complex, and how no muscles act purely in the sagittal plane. A comparative synthesis of experiments and models such as ours could provide powerful synthesis into how anatomy, mechanics and control interact during locomotion and how these interactions evolve. Such a framework could remove obstacles impeding the analysis of muscle function in extinct taxa.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niksa Mohammadi Bagheri ◽  
Mahmoud Kadkhodaei ◽  
Shiva Pirhadi ◽  
Peiman Mosaddegh

AbstractThe implementation of intracorneal ring segments (ICRS) is one of the successfully applied refractive operations for the treatment of keratoconus (kc) progression. The different selection of ICRS types along with the surgical implementation techniques can significantly affect surgical outcomes. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the influence of ICRS implementation techniques and design on the postoperative biomechanical state and keratometry results. The clinical data of three patients with different stages and patterns of keratoconus were assessed to develop a three-dimensional (3D) patient-specific finite-element model (FEM) of the keratoconic cornea. For each patient, the exact surgery procedure definitions were interpreted in the step-by-step FEM. Then, seven surgical scenarios, including different ICRS designs (complete and incomplete segment), with two surgical implementation methods (tunnel incision and lamellar pocket cut), were simulated. The pre- and postoperative predicted results of FEM were validated with the corresponding clinical data. For the pre- and postoperative results, the average error of 0.4% and 3.7% for the mean keratometry value ($$\text {K}_{\text{mean}}$$ K mean ) were predicted. Furthermore, the difference in induced flattening effects was negligible for three ICRS types (KeraRing segment with arc-length of 355, 320, and two separate 160) of equal thickness. In contrast, the single and double progressive thickness of KeraRing 160 caused a significantly lower flattening effect compared to the same type with constant thickness. The observations indicated that the greater the segment thickness and arc-length, the lower the induced mean keratometry values. While the application of the tunnel incision method resulted in a lower $$\text {K}_{\text{mean}}$$ K mean value for moderate and advanced KC, the induced maximum Von Mises stress on the postoperative cornea exceeded the induced maximum stress on the cornea more than two to five times compared to the pocket incision and the preoperative state of the cornea. In particular, an asymmetric regional Von Mises stress on the corneal surface was generated with a progressive ICRS thickness. These findings could be an early biomechanical sign for a later corneal instability and ICRS migration. The developed methodology provided a platform to personalize ICRS refractive surgery with regard to the patient’s keratoconus stage in order to facilitate the efficiency and biomechanical stability of the surgery.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoyo Y. Irie ◽  
Tohru Irie ◽  
Alejandro A. Espinoza Orías ◽  
Kazuyuki Segami ◽  
Norimasa Iwasaki ◽  
...  

AbstractThis study investigated in vivo the three-dimensional distribution of CT attenuation in the lumbar spine pedicle wall measured in Hounsfield Unit (HU). Seventy-five volunteers underwent clinical lumbar spine CT scans. Data was analyzed with custom-written software to determine the regional variation in pedicle wall attenuation values. A cylindrical coordinate system oriented along the pedicle’s long axis was used to calculate the pedicular wall attenuation distribution three-dimensionally and the highest attenuation value was identified. The pedicular cross-section was divided into four quadrants: lateral, medial, cranial, and caudal. The mean HU value for each quadrant was calculated for all lumbar spine levels (L1–5). The pedicle wall attenuation was analyzed by gender, age, spinal levels and anatomical quadrant. The mean HU values of the pedicle wall at L1 and L5 were significantly lower than the values between L2–4 in both genders and in both age groups. Furthermore, the medial quadrant showed higher HU values than the lateral quadrant at all levels and the caudal quadrant showed higher HU values at L1–3 and lower HU values at L4–5 than the cranial quadrant. These findings may explain why there is a higher incidence of pedicle screw breach in the pedicle lateral wall.


2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virgilio F. Ferrario ◽  
Fabrizio Mian ◽  
Redento Peretta ◽  
Riccardo Rosati ◽  
Chiarella Sforza

Objective: To compare three-dimensional nasal measurements directly made on subjects to those made on plaster casts, and nasal dimensions obtained with a surface-based approach to values obtained with a landmark representation. Methods: Soft-tissue nasal landmarks were directly digitized on 20 healthy adults. Stone casts of their noses were digitized and mathematically reconstructed using nonuniform rational B-splines (NURBS) curves. Linear distances, angles, volumes and surface areas were computed using facial landmarks and NURBS-reconstructed models (surface-based approach). Results: Measurements on the stone casts were somewhat smaller than values obtained directly from subjects (differences between −0.05 and −1.58 mm). Dahlberg's statistic ranged between 0.73 and 1.47 mm. Significant (p < .05) t values were found for 4 of 15 measurements. The surface-based approach gave values 3.5 (volumes) and 2.1 (surface area) times larger than those computed with the landmark-based method. The two values were significantly related (volume, r = 0.881; surface, r = 0.924; p < .001), the resulting equations estimated actual values well (mean difference, volume −0.01 mm3, SD 1.47, area 0.05 cm2, SD 1.44); limits of agreement between −2.89 and 2.87 mm3 (volume); −2.88 and 2.78 cm2 (area). Conclusions: Considering the characteristics of the two methods, and for practical purposes, nasal distances and angles obtained on plaster models were comparable to digital data obtained directly from subjects. Surface areas and volumes were best obtained using a surface-based approach, but could be estimated using data provided by the landmark representation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 556-562 ◽  
pp. 5017-5020
Author(s):  
Ting Ting Wang

Three-dimensional stereo vision technology has the capability of overcoming drawbacks influencing by light, posture and occluder. A novel image processing method is proposed based on three-dimensional stereoscopic vision, which optimizes model on the basis of camera binocular vision and in improvement of adding constraints to traditional model, moreover ensures accuracy of later location and recognition. To verify validity of the proposed method, firstly marking experiments are conducted to achieve fruit location, with the result of average error rate of 0.65%; and then centroid feature experiments are achieved with error from 5.77mm to 68.15mm and reference error rate from 1.44% to 5.68%, average error rate of 3.76% while the distance changes from 300mm to 1200mm. All these data of experiments demonstrate that proposed method meets the requirements of three-dimensional imageprocessing.


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