Innovative biomechanical modelling of the spine with a focus on paraspinal musculature

人类脊椎周围的肌肉在保持直立姿势的同时使躯干能够运动，发挥着基础性的作用。已经有了脊椎的计算机模型来帮助我们了解这些肌肉的功能，但这些模型使用起来很麻烦。在过去的几年里，我们利用加拿大温哥华不列颠哥伦比亚大学(UBC)开发的ArtiSynth软件开发了一个人类脊椎模型。该软件使用了一种非常高效的算法，使得求解时间只需几分钟而不是几天。该项目的重点是增强的人类脊柱的生物力学建模，特别强调脊柱旁肌肉几何和属性的基本作用。这项研究将包括先进的胸腰椎肌肉骨骼动态模型，手术前后人类受试者脊柱和脊柱旁肌肉系统的图像分析，以及手术时从受试者身上获取的组织样本的肌肉特性测量。这项研究的长期目标是开发一个特定于受试者的术前计划软件包，能够准确地预测整个胸腰椎的脊柱负荷。

The muscles around the human spine play a fundamental role in its ability to maintain an erect posture while enabling movement of the trunk. There exist computer models of the spine to help us understand the functioning of these muscles, yet these models are cumbersome to use. Over the past several years, we have developed a model of the human spine that uses the ArtiSynth software developed at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. This software uses a very efficient algorithm such that solution times are on the order of minutes rather than days.The focus of this project is the enhanced biomechanical modelling of the human spine with particular emphasis on the fundamental role of paraspinal muscle geometry and properties. The research will involve advanced musculoskeletal dynamic modelling of the thoracolumbar spine, image analysis of the spine and paraspinal musculature in human subjects pre and post-surgery, and measurement of muscle properties from tissue specimens taken from subjects at the time of surgery.The long-term objective of this research is to develop a subject specific, pre-operative planning software package that would accurately predict spinal loading along the entire thoracolumbar spine.