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

人体脊柱周围的肌肉在保持直立姿势的同时使躯干能够运动方面起着重要作用。有脊柱的计算机模型可以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英属哥伦比亚大学（UBC）开发的ArtiSynth软件开发了一个人体脊柱模型。这个软件使用一个非常有效的算法，这样解决时间是在分钟的顺序，而不是天。该项目的重点是增强人体脊柱的生物力学建模，特别强调棘旁肌肉几何形状和特性的基本作用。该研究将涉及胸腰椎的高级肌肉骨骼动态建模，人类受试者术前和术后脊柱和棘旁肌肉组织的图像分析，以及手术时取自受试者的组织标本的肌肉特性测量。本研究的长期目标是开发一种针对特定受试者的术前计划软件包，以准确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.