CAREER: Musculoskeletal Computer Modeling of Foot and Ankle Disorders

[01:42 . 17] piazza在这个职业奖下，计算力学的方法将被用来研究健康和患病的人的脚和脚踝的功能。尽管受伤和肌肉骨骼疾病的数量超过了其他任何关节，尤其是在老年人中，但足部和脚踝是人类肌肉骨骼系统中最不为人所知的两个部位。由于难以确定关节旋转轴和显著的主体间可变性，力学分析落后于其他关节。研究计划的重点是改进计算工具，通过数学优化技术，用于在个体受试者中无创地定位脚踝的两个主要关节轴。针对特定受试者的模型将基于对15名受试者小腿的磁共振扫描，该模型可被骨科医生用于研究手术过程中未经测试的变异的影响，同时将对患者的风险降至最低。该计划的教育部分侧重于培养对生物力学的兴趣，特别是对运动机能学和工程学本科学生的足部和脚踝问题的兴趣，重点是接触代表性不足的群体。将开发两个新实验室，并将引入一系列研讨会，将基础科学家和临床医生聚集在一起，让学生了解生物力学和相关领域的职业可能性。

0134217PiazzaUnder this CAREER Award, methods in computational mechanics will be developed to study the function of healthy and diseased human feet and ankles. Though injuries and musculoskeletal disorders outnumber those seen at any other joint, especially among the elderly, the foot and ankle are two of the least well-understood areas of the human musculoskeletal system. Mechanical analysis has lagged behind that of other joints due to difficulty in defining axes of joint rotation and significant inter-subject variability. The research plan focuses on refining computational tools that will be used to locate the two major joint axes of the ankle noninvasively in individual subjects through mathematical optimization techniques. Subject specific models, which can be used by orthopaedic surgeons to study the effects of an untested variation in a surgical procedure while minimizing the risks to patients, will be based on MR scans of the lower legs of fifteen subjects.The educational component of the plan focuses on fostering interest in biomechanics in general and the foot and ankle problem in particular among undergraduate kinesiology and engineering students, with an emphasis on reaching underrepresented groups Two new laboratories will be developed and a seminar series to bring together basic scientists and clinicians and to expose students to career possibilities in biomechanics and related fields will be introduced.