Biomedical subjects

F E Zajac

Publications and source records attributed to F E Zajac.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1998

Using cine phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging to non-invasively study in vivo knee dynamics.

We tested the accuracy and feasibility of using cine phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging (cine-PC MRI) to non-invasively measure three-dimensional, in vivo, skeletal velocity. Bone displacement was estimated by integrating the velocity measurements. Cine-PC MRI was originally developed to directly and non-invasively measure in vivo blood and heart velocity. Since no standard of reference exists for in vivo measurement of trabecular bone motion, a motion phantom (consisting of a series of paired gears that moved a sample box containing a human femoral bone sample) was built to assess the accuracy of tracking trabecular bone with cine-PC MRI. The in-plane, average absolute displacement errors were 0.55 +/- 0.38 and 0.36 +/- 0.27 mm in the x- and y-direction, respectively. Thus, estimates of bone position based on the integration of bone velocity measurements are affected little by the magnetic properties of bone [Majumdar and Genant (1995) Osteoporos International 5, 79-92]. The velocity profiles of the patella, femur and tibia were measured in five healthy subjects during leg extensions. Extension was resisted by a 34 N weight. Subjects maintained a consistent motion rate (35 +/- 0.5 cycles min(-1)) and motion artifacts were minimal. Our results indicate that patellar flexion lags knee flexion and the patella tilts laterally and then medially as the knee extends. We conclude cine-PC MRI is a promising technique for the non-invasive measurement of in vivo skeletal dynamics and, based on our previous work, muscular dynamics as well.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗

PubMed1998

Large index-fingertip forces are produced by subject-independent patterns of muscle excitation.

Are fingertip forces produced by subject-independent patterns of muscle excitation? If so, understanding the mechanical basis underlying these muscle coordination strategies would greatly assist surgeons in evaluating options for restoring grasping. With the finger in neutral ad- abduction and flexed 45 degrees at the MCP and PIP, and 10 degrees at DIP joints, eight subjects attempted to produce maximal voluntary forces in four orthogonal directions perpendicular to the distal phalanx (palmar, dorsal, lateral and medial) and in one direction collinear with it (distal). Forces were directed within 4.7 +/- 2.2 degrees (mean +/- S.D.) of target and their magnitudes clustered into three distinct levels (p < 0.05; post hoc pairwise RMANOVA). Palmar (27.9 +/- 4.1 N), distal (24.3 +/- 8.3 N) and medial (22.9 +/- 7.8 N) forces were highest, lateral (14.7 +/- 4.8 N) was intermediate, and dorsal (7.5 +/- 1.5 N) was lowest. Normalized fine-wire EMGs from all seven muscles revealed distinct muscle excitation groups for palmar, dorsal and distal forces (p < 0.05; post hoc pairwise RMANOVA). Palmar force used flexors, extensors and dorsal interosseous; dorsal force used all muscles; distal force used all muscles except for extensors; medial and lateral forces used all muscles including significant co-excitation of interossei. The excitation strategies predicted to achieve maximal force by a 3-D computer model (four pinjoints, inextensible tendons, extensor mechanism and isometric force models for all seven muscles) reproduced the observed use of extensors and absence of palmar interosseous to produce palmar force (to regulate net joint flexion torques), the absence of extensors for distal force, and the use of intrinsics (strong MCP flexors) for dorsal force. The model could not predict the interossei co-excitation seen for medial and lateral forces, which may be a strategy to prevent MCP joint damage. The model predicts distal force to be most sensitive to dorsal interosseous strength, and palmar and distal forces to be very sensitive to MCP and PIP flexor moment arms, and dorsal force to be sensitive to the moment arm of and the tension allocation to the PIP extensor tendon of the extensor mechanism.

Adult↗

PubMed1998

Sensorimotor state of the contralateral leg affects ipsilateral muscle coordination of pedaling.

The objective of this study was to determine if independent central pattern generating elements controlling the legs in bipedal and unipedal locomotion is a viable theory for locomotor propulsion in humans. Coordinative coupling of the limbs could then be accomplished through mechanical interactions and ipsilateral feedback control rather than through central interlimb neural pathways. Pedaling was chosen as the locomotor task to study because interlimb mechanics can be significantly altered, as pedaling can be executed with the use of either one leg or two legs (cf. walking) and because the load on the limb can be well-controlled. Subjects pedaled a modified bicycle ergometer in a two-legged (bilateral) and a one-legged (unilateral) pedaling condition. The loading on the leg during unilateral pedaling was designed to be identical to the loading experienced by the leg during bilateral pedaling. This loading was achieved by having a trained human "motor" pedal along with the subject and exert on the opposite crank the torque that the subject's contralateral leg generated in bilateral pedaling. The human "motor" was successful at reproducing each subject's one-leg crank torque. The shape of the motor's torque trajectory was similar to that of subjects, and the amount of work done during extension and flexion was not significantly different. Thus the same muscle coordination pattern would allow subjects to pedal successfully in both the bilateral and unilateral conditions, and the afferent signals from the pedaling leg could be the same for both conditions. Although the overall work done by each leg did not change, an 86% decrease in retarding (negative) crank torque during limb flexion was measured in all 11 subjects during the unilateral condition. This corresponded to an increase in integrated electromyography of tibialis anterior (70%), rectus femoris (43%), and biceps femoris (59%) during flexion. Even given visual torque feedback in the unilateral condition, subjects still showed a 33% decrease in negative torque during flexion. These results are consistent with the existence of an inhibitory pathway from elements controlling extension onto contralateral flexion elements, with the pathway operating during two-legged pedaling but not during one-legged pedaling, in which case flexor activity increases. However, this centrally mediated coupling can be overcome with practice, as the human "motor" was able to effectively match the bilateral crank torque after a longer practice regimen. We conclude that the sensorimotor control of a unipedal task is affected by interlimb neural pathways. Thus a task performed unilaterally is not performed with the same muscle coordination utilized in a bipedal condition, even if such coordination would be equally effective in the execution of the unilateral task.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Muscle coordination of maximum-speed pedaling.

A simulation based on a forward dynamical musculoskeletal model was computed from an optimal control algorithm to understand uni- and bi-articular muscle coordination of maximum-speed startup pedaling. The muscle excitations, pedal reaction forces, and crank and pedal kinematics of the simulation agreed with measurements from subjects. Over the crank cycle, uniarticular hip and knee extensor muscles provide 55% of the propulsive energy, even though 27% of the amount they produce in the downstroke is absorbed in the upstroke. Only 44% of the energy produced by these muscles during downstroke is delivered to the crank directly. The other 56% is delivered to the limb segments, and then transferred to the crank by the ankle plantarflexors. The plantarflexors, especially soleus, also prevent knee hyperextension, by slowing the knee extension being produced during downstroke by the other muscles, including hamstrings. Hamstrings and rectus femoris make smooth pedaling possible by propelling the crank through the stroke transitions. Other simulations showed that pedaling can be performed well by partitioning all the muscles in a leg into two pairs of phase-controlled alternating functional groups, with each group also alternating with its contralateral counterpart. In this scheme, the uniarticular hip/knee extensor muscles (one group) are excited during downstroke, and the uniarticular hip/knee flexor muscles (the alternating group) during upstroke. The ankle dorsiflexor and rectus femoris muscles (one group of the other pair) are excited near the transition from upstroke to downstroke, and the ankle plantarflexors and hamstrings muscles (the alternating group) during the downstroke to upstroke transition. We conclude that these alternating functional muscle groups might represent a centrally generated primitive for not only pedaling but also other locomotor tasks as well.

Ankle↗

PubMed1996

A state-space analysis of mechanical energy generation, absorption, and transfer during pedaling.

Seated ergometer pedaling is a motor task ideal for studying basic mechanisms of human bipedal coordination because, in contrast to standing and walking, fewer degrees of freedom are being controlled and upright balance is not a factor. As a step toward understanding how individual muscles coordinate pedaling, we investigated how individual net muscle joint torques and non-muscular (e.g. centripetal, coriolis, and gravity) forces of the lower limbs generate, absorb, and transfer mechanical energy in order to propel the crank and recover the limb. This was accomplished using a mechanical power analysis derived entirely from the closed-form state-space dynamical equations of a two-legged pedaling model that accounted for both the limb segmental and crank load dynamics. Based on a pedaling simulation that reproduced experimental kinematic and kinetic trajectories, we found that the net ankle and hip extensor joint torques function 'synergistically' to deliver energy to the crank during the downstroke. The net hip extensor joint torque generates energy to the limb, while the net ankle extensor joint torque transfers this energy from the limb to the crank. In contrast, net knee extensor and flexor joint torques function 'independently' by generating energy to the crank through the top and bottom of the stroke, respectively. The net ankle joint torque transfers and the net knee joint torque generates energy to the crank by contributing to the driving component of the pedal reaction force. During the upstroke, net ankle extensor joint torque transfers energy from the crank to the limb to restore the potential energy of the limb. In both halves of the crank cycle, gravity forces augment the crank-limb energy transfer performed by the net ankle extensor joint torque.

Absorption↗

PubMed1996

Crank inertial load has little effect on steady-state pedaling coordination.

Inertial load can affect the control of a dynamic system whenever parts of the system are accelerated or decelerated. During steady-state pedaling, because within-cycle variations in crank angular acceleration still exist, the amount of crank inertia present (which varies widely with road-riding gear ratio) may affect the within-cycle coordination of muscles. However, the effect of inertial load on steady-state pedaling coordination is almost always assumed to be negligible, since the net mechanical energy per cycle developed by muscles only depends on the constant cadence and workload. This study test the hypothesis that under steady-state conditions, the net joint torques produced by muscles at the hip, knee, and ankle are unaffected by crank inertial load. To perform the investigation, we constructed a pedaling apparatus which could emulate the low inertial load of a standard ergometer or the high inertial load of a road bicycle in high gear. Crank angle and bilateral pedal force and angle data were collected from ten subjects instructed to pedal steadily (i.e., constant speed across cycles) and smoothly (i.e., constant speed within a cycle) against both inertias at a constant workload. Virtually no statistically significant changes were found in the net hip and knee muscle joint torques calculated from an inverse dynamics analysis. Though the net ankle muscle joint torque, as well as the one- and two-legged crank torque, showed statistically significant increases at the higher inertia, the changes were small. In contrast, large statistically significant reductions were found in crank kinematic variability both within a cycle and between cycles (i.e., cadence), primarily because a larger inertial load means a slower crank dynamic response. Nonetheless, the reduction in cadence variability was somewhat attenuated by a large statistically significant increase in one-legged crank torque variability. We suggest, therefore, that muscle coordination during steady-state pedaling is largely unaffected, though less well regulated, when crank inertial load is increased.

Acceleration↗

PubMed1995

Estimating net joint torques from kinesiological data using optimal linear system theory.

Net joint torques (NJT) are frequently computed to provide insights into the motor control of dynamic biomechanical systems. An inverse dynamics approach is almost always used, whereby the NJT are computed from 1) kinematic measurements (e.g., position of the segments), 2) kinetic measurements (e.g., ground reaction forces) that are, in effect, constraints defining unmeasured kinematic quantities based on a dynamic segmental model, and 3) numerical differentiation of the measured kinematics to estimate velocities and accelerations that are, in effect, additional constraints. Due to errors in the measurements, the segmental model, and the differentiation process, estimated NJT rarely produce the observed movement in a forward simulation when the dynamics of the segmental system are inherently unstable (e.g., human walking). Forward dynamic simulations are, however, essential to studies of muscle coordination. We have developed an alternative approach, using the linear quadratic follower (LQF) algorithm, which computes the NJT such that a stable simulation of the observed movement is produced and the measurements are replicated as well as possible. The LQF algorithm does not employ constraints depending on explicit differentiation of the kinematic data, but rather employs those depending on specification of a cost function, based on quantitative assumptions about data confidence. We illustrate the usefulness of the LQF approach by using it to estimate NJT exerted by standing humans perturbed by support-surface movements. We show that unless the number of kinematic and force variables recorded is sufficiently high, the confidence that can be placed in the estimates of the NJT, obtained by any method (e.g., LQF, or the inverse dynamics approach), may be unsatisfactorily low.

Algorithms↗

PubMed1995

Modeling and simulation of paraplegic ambulation in a reciprocating gait orthosis.

We developed a three dimensional, four segment, eight-degree-of-freedom model for the analysis of paraplegic ambulation in a reciprocating gait orthosis (RGO). Model development was guided by experimental analysis of a spinal cord injured individual walking in an RGO with the additional assistance of arm crutches. Body forces and torques required to produce a dynamic simulation of the RGO gait swing phase were found by solving an optimal control problem to track the recorded kinematics and ground reaction forces. We found that high upper body forces are required, not only during swing but probably also during double support to compensate for the deceleration of the body during swing, which is due to the pelvic thrust necessary to swing the leg forward. Other stimulations showed that upper body forces and body deceleration during swing can be reduced substantially by producing a ballistic swing. Functional neuromuscular stimulation of the hip musculature during double support would then be required, however, to establish the initial conditions needed in a ballistic swing.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗

PubMed1994

Compensating for changes in muscle length in total hip arthroplasty. Effects on the moment generating capacity of the muscles.

Alterations in the location of the hip center may change the lengths and moment arms of the muscles, and thereby affect their capacity to generate force and moment about the hip. This study demonstrates some of the differences between compensating and not compensating for changes in muscle length that arise from displacement of the hip center. A computer model was developed to estimate the maximum isometric moment generating capacity of the hip muscles under two conditions. In the compensated condition, the hip center was displaced, but the muscles were restored to their original lengths and orientations by altering proximal femoral geometry. In the uncompensated condition, femoral geometry remained constant; thus, muscle lengths and orientations changed with displacement of the hip center. The computer simulations showed large differences between the two conditions. For example, a 2-cm superior displacement of the hip center decreased the moment generating capacity of the hip abductors 18% with compensation and 49% without compensation. Similarly, a 1-cm medial displacement of the hip center increased the moment generating capacity of the abductors 17% with compensation, but decreased it 4% without compensation. In contrast, a 1-cm inferior displacement decreased the moment generating capacity of flexors 6% with compensation, but increased it 12% without compensation. The results presented here demonstrate that compensating for changes in muscle length can be important in terms of preserving the moment generating capacity of the muscles when the hip center is displaced superiorly and medially, but not when the hip center is displaced in the inferior direction.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMed1993

Muscle coordination of movement: a perspective.

Multijoint movement requires the coordination of many muscles. Because multijoint movement is complex, kinesiological data must be analyzed and interpreted in the context of forward dynamical models rich enough to study coordination; otherwise, principles will remain elusive. The complexity arises because a muscle acts to accelerate all joints and segments, even joints it does not span and segments to which it does not attach. A biarticular muscle can even act to accelerate one of the joints it spans opposite to its anatomical classification. For example, gastrocnemius may act to accelerate the knee into extension during upright standing. One powerful forward dynamical modeling method to study muscle coordination is optimal control theory because simulations of movement can be produced. These simulations can either attempt to replicate experimental data, without hypothesizing the purpose of the motor task, or otherwise generate muscle and movement trajectories that best accomplish the hypothesized task. Application of the theory to the study of maximum-height jumping has provided insight into the biomechanical principles of jumping, such as: (i) jump height is more sensitive to muscle strength than to muscle speed, and insensitive to musculotendon compliance; (ii) uniarticular muscles generate the propulsive energy and biarticular muscles fine-tune the coordination; and (iii) countermovement is often desirable, even in squat jumps, because it seems both to prolong the duration of upwards propulsion, and to give muscles time to develop force so the body can move upwards initially with high acceleration. The effort necessary to develop forward dynamical models has been so high, however, that model-generated data of jumping or any other task are meager. An interactive computer workstation environment is proposed whereby users can develop neuromusculoskeletal control models, generate simulations of motor tasks, and display both kinesiological and modeling data more easily (e.g., animations). By studying a variety of motor tasks well, each within a theoretical framework, hopefully muscle coordination principles will soon emerge.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗

PubMed1993

A biomechanical analysis of muscle strength as a limiting factor in standing posture.

We developed a method for studying muscular coordination and strength in multijoint movements and have applied it to standing posture. The method is based on a musculoskeletal model of the human lower extremity in the sagittal plane and a technique to visualize, geometrically, how constraints internal and external to the body affect movement. We developed an algorithm to calculate the set of all feasible accelerations (i.e., the 'feasible acceleration set', or FAS) that muscles can induce. For the ankle, knee, and hip joints in the sagittal plane, this set is a polyhedron in three dimensions. Using the volume of the FAS as an indicator of overall mobility, we found that strengthening muscles on the posterior side (as opposed to the anterior) of the body would cause greater increases in mobility. Employing the experimental observations of others, we also found that acceleration constraints greatly reduce the range of feasible accelerations. We then defined a set of four basic acceleration vectors which, when used in various combinations, can produce the repertoire of postural movements. We used linear programming to find the maximum magnitudes of these vectors, and the sensitivity of these magnitudes to muscle strength, thereby delineating those muscles which, if strengthened, would cause the greatest increase in the body's ability to generate the basic acceleration vectors. For our particular model, those muscle groups were found to be hamstrings, tibialis anterior, rectus femoris, and gastrocnemius. These muscle groups would be of great importance in cases involving severely reduced muscle strength. This methodology may therefore be useful for purposes such as design of functional electrical stimulation controllers or exercises for persons at risk for falling.

Acceleration↗

PubMed1993

Human standing posture: multi-joint movement strategies based on biomechanical constraints.

We developed a theoretical framework for studying coordination strategies in standing posture. The framework consists of a musculoskeletal model of the human lower extremity in the sagittal plane and a technique to visualize, geometrically, how constraints internal and external to the body affect movement. The set of all feasible accelerations (i.e., the "feasible acceleration set" or FAS) that muscles can induce at positions near upright were calculated. We found that musculoskeletal mechanics dictate that independent control of joints is relatively difficult to achieve. When muscle activations are constrained so the knees stay straight, to approximate the typical postural response to perturbation, the corresponding subset of the feasible acceleration set greatly favors a combination of ankle and hip movement in the ratio 1:3 (called the "hip strategy"). Independent control of these two joints remains difficult to achieve. When near the boundary of instability, the orientation and shape of this subset show that the movement strategy necessary to maintain stability, without taking a step, is quite restricted. Hypothesizing that regulation of center-of-mass position is crucial to maintaining balance, we examined the feasible set of center-of-mass accelerations. When the knees must be kept straight, the acceleration of the center of mass is severely limited vertically, but not horizontally. We also found that the "ankle strategy", involving rotation about the ankles only, requires more muscle activation than the "hip strategy" for a given amount of horizontal acceleration. Our model therefore predicts that the hip strategy is most effective at controlling the center of mass with minimal muscle activation ("neural effort").

Ankle Joint↗

PubMed1992

How musculotendon architecture and joint geometry affect the capacity of muscles to move and exert force on objects: a review with application to arm and forearm tendon transfer design.

This commentary reviews musculotendon architecture and the relation between architectural parameters and the force, speed, and excursion capacity of musculotendon units. It is hoped that this review will help provide the framework within which to appreciate the importance of the data presented by Lieber et al. Muscle fiber pennation hardly affects musculotendon output of forearm and hand muscles. Instead, physiologic cross-sectional area and muscle fiber length affect force capacity and speed and excursion capacity, respectively. How muscles with equal mass can have different force, speed, and excursion capacities is explained. Since the moment arm of a muscle (the shortest distance from the musculotendon unit to the joint center of rotation) transforms muscle output into musculotendon output, it is shown why the capacity for a muscle to exert force on an object, as during grasping, is directly proportional to its moment arm and why the range of joint movement and speed over which muscles exert force is inversely proportional to the moment arm. Finally, tendon, being not stiff in forearm and hand musculotendon units, also affects their output. Criteria are given for designing tendon transfer reconstructions from architectural data and moment arm data to best replicate the biomechanical function of the replaced muscle. To have the same capacity for imparting movement to objects and exerting force on them, the donor muscle should have the same moment arm/physiologic cross-sectional area product, the same fiber length/moment arm ratio, and the same tendon length/muscle fiber length ratio as the replaced muscle.

Arm↗

PubMed1992

Force- and moment-generating capacity of lower-extremity muscles before and after tendon lengthening.

A computer model of the human lower extremity was developed to study how surgical lengthening of tendon affects the force- and moment-generating capacity of the muscles. This model computes the maximum isometric force and the resulting joint moments that each muscle-tendon complex can develop at any body position. Tendon lengthenings were simulated by increasing the tendon length of each muscle-tendon complex and computing the change in the maximum isometric muscle force and joint moments at a specific body position. These simulations showed that the forces and moments developed by the ankle plantarflexors are extremely sensitive to changes in tendon length. For example, at a body position corresponding to the midstance phase of gait, the maximum isometric moment generated by soleus decreased 30% with a 1-cm increase in tendon length, and 85% with a 2-cm increase in tendon length. In contrast, 1- and 2-cm increases in iliopsoas tendon length decreased its hip flexion moment by only 4% and 9%, respectively. This article quantifies the sensitivity of muscle force and joint moments to changes in tendon length for the most commonly lengthened lower-extremity tendons. These results indicate how much each of these tendons should be lengthened to achieve an incremental decrease in muscle force or joint moment.

Ankle Joint↗

PubMed1991

Optimal muscular coordination strategies for jumping.

This paper presents a detailed analysis of an optimal control solution to a maximum height squat jump, based upon how muscles accelerate and contribute power to the body segments during the ground contact phase of jumping. Quantitative comparisons of model and experimental results expose a proximal-to-distal sequence of muscle activation (i.e. from hip to knee to ankle). We found that the contribution of muscles dominates both the angular acceleration and the instantaneous power of the segments. However, the contributions of gravity and segmental motion are insignificant, except the latter become important during the final 10% of the jump. Vasti and gluteus maximus muscles are the major energy producers of the lower extremity. These muscles are the prime movers of the lower extremity because they dominate the angular acceleration of the hip toward extension and the instantaneous power of the trunk. In contrast, the ankle plantarflexors (soleus, gastrocnemius, and the other plantarflexors) dominate the total energy of the thigh, though these muscles also contribute appreciably to trunk power during the final 20% of the jump. Therefore, the contribution of these muscles to overall jumping performance cannot be neglected. We found that the biarticular gastrocnemius increases jump height (i.e. the net vertical displacement of the center of mass of the body from standing) by as much as 25%. However, this increase is not due to any unique biarticular action (e.g. proximal-to-distal power transfer from the knee to the ankle), since jumping performance is similar when gastrocnemius is replaced with a uniarticular ankle plantarflexor.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

A musculoskeletal model of the human lower extremity: the effect of muscle, tendon, and moment arm on the moment-angle relationship of musculotendon actuators at the hip, knee, and ankle.

We have developed a musculoskeletal model of the human lower extremity for computer simulation studies of musculotendon function and muscle coordination during movement. This model incorporates the salient features of muscle and tendon, specifies the musculoskeletal geometry and musculotendon parameters of 18 musculotendon actuators, and defines the active isometric moment of these actuators about the hip, knee, and ankle joints in the sagittal plane. We found that tendon slack length, optimal muscle-fiber length, and moment arm are different for each actuator, thus each actuator develops peak isometric moment at a different joint angle. The joint angle where an actuator produces peak moment does not necessarily coincide with the joint angle where: (1) muscle force peaks, (2) moment arm peaks, or (3) the in vivo moment developed by maximum voluntary contractions peaks. We conclude that when tendon is neglected in analyses of musculotendon force or moment about joints, erroneous predictions of human musculotendon function may be stated, not only in static situations as studied here, but during movement as well.

Ankle Joint↗

PubMed1990

An optimal control model for maximum-height human jumping.

To understand how intermuscular control, inertial interactions among body segments, and musculotendon dynamics coordinate human movement, we have chosen to study maximum-height jumping. Because this activity presents a relatively unambiguous performance criterion, it fits well into the framework of optimal control theory. The human body is modeled as a four-segment, planar, articulated linkage, with adjacent links joined together by frictionless revolutes. Driving the skeletal system are eight musculotendon actuators, each muscle modeled as a three-element, lumped-parameter entity, in series with tendon. Tendon is assumed to be elastic, and its properties are defined by a stress-strain curve. The mechanical behavior of muscle is described by a Hill-type contractile element, including both series and parallel elasticity. Driving the musculotendon model is a first-order representation of excitation-contraction (activation) dynamics. The optimal control problem is to maximize the height reached by the center of mass of the body subject to body-segmental, musculotendon, and activation dynamics, a zero vertical ground reaction force at lift-off, and constraints which limit the magnitude of the incoming neural control signals to lie between zero (no excitation) and one (full excitation). A computational solution to this problem was found on the basis of a Mayne-Polak dynamic optimization algorithm. Qualitative comparisons between the predictions of the model and previously reported experimental findings indicate that the model reproduces the major features of a maximum-height squat jump (i.e. limb-segmental angular displacements, vertical and horizontal ground reaction forces, sequence of muscular activity, overall jump height, and final lift-off time).

Biomechanical Phenomena↗

PubMed1990

An interactive graphics-based model of the lower extremity to study orthopaedic surgical procedures.

We have developed a model of the human lower extremity to study how surgical changes in musculoskeletal geometry and musculotendon parameters affect muscle force and its moment about the joints. The lines of action of 43 musculotendon actuators were defined based on their anatomical relationships to three-dimensional bone surface representations. A model for each actuator was formulated to compute its isometric force-length relation. The kinematics of the lower extremity were defined by modeling the hip, knee, ankle, subtalar, and metatarsophalangeal joints. Thus, the force and joint moment that each musculotendon actuator develops can be computed for any body position. The joint moments calculated with the model compare well with experimentally measured isometric joint moments. We developed a graphical interface to the model that allows the user to visualize the musculoskeletal geometry and to manipulate the model parameters to study the biomechanical consequences of orthopaedic surgical procedures. For example, tendon transfer and lengthening procedures can be simulated by adjusting the model parameters according to various surgical techniques. Results of the simulated surgeries can be analyzed quickly in terms of postsurgery muscle forces and other biomechanical variables. Just as interactive graphics have enhanced engineering design and analysis, we have found that graphics-based musculoskeletal models are effective tools for designing and analyzing surgical procedures.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗