Model studies in orthopaedic biomechanics

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Disorders in the human musculoskeletal system affect majority of population and are the leading cause of disability in people during their active working years. Although the etiology of many of these disorders (e.g., low-back pain, arthritis) is often a matter of uncertainty, there is ample evidence suggesting that mechanical factors play a prominent role. Identification of the role of these factors in observed injuries, deformities and degenerative processes benefits broad segments of the society by improving quality of life and productivity to reducing health care cost especially in our ageing society. This proposal aims to perform realistic finite element model studies of the redundant human passive-active trunk system, single- and multi-motion segment lumbar spine, intervertebral discs, passive-active human knee joint including tibiofemoral and patellofemoral joints in intact and reconstructed conditions, articular cartilage and joint replacement materials. These models perform 3D coupled nonlinear diffusion, elasto-static, dynamic, viscoelastic and poroelastic analyses under various mechanical loading, muscle recruitments and postural/kinematics/boundary conditions. Our own in-house developed programs as well as commercially available package programs (e.g., Abaqus) will be used to carry out the proposed studies. The foregoing biomechanical model studies in combination with in vivo/in vitro measurements (done by us, our collaborators or taken from the literature) will: (1) markedly advance our understanding of functional biomechanics and stability of the human trunk, knee joints and their components as well as associated injuries, failures and degenerative processes; (2) suggest methods and standards for safe and optimal performance of occupational/recreational tasks; (3) investigate and improve current exercise, evaluation and rehabilitation programs as well as surgical replacement methods and finally (4) analyse and improve designs for prosthetic replacement systems.