Biomedical subjects

Moreno D'Amico

Publications and source records attributed to Moreno D'Amico.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

A 3-D biomechanical skeleton model for posture and movement analysis.

A project to merge into a full 3D reliable and detailed human skeleton representation various segmental biomechanical models presented in literature has been undertaken by our group. The obtained 3D skeleton model is fully parametric and can so be fitted to each subject anthropometric characteristics. A non-ionizing approach based on 3D opto-electronic measurements of body landmarks labelled by passive markers has been chosen to build the 3D parametric biomechanical skeleton model. To this aim various protocols involving different body labelling (and so different related anthropometric data) have been established for different analyses. To analyse human posture and spinal related pathologies, a 27 markers protocol has been set for static analysis, while 49 markers protocol has been set for gait and movement analysis. A special focus has been devoted to identify and model the spine with a correct degree of accuracy and reliability. To this aim complex signal processing and optimisation procedures have been tested. The model is able to fully integrate information deriving from other measurements devices as force platform data, surface EMG, foot pressure maps. The presented model is the first proposed in literature, to authors knowledge, able to process such multifactorial information to perform a full kinematic and kinetic analysis with particular focus on the spine. Several hundreds of patients have been already analysed and followed up with this methodology that proved to be useful for various posture and spine related pathologies (in particular spine deformities, low-back pain etc.).

Biomechanical Phenomena↗

PubMed2006

Balance lower limb loads and 3D spine modifications after total hip joint replacement: effects of leg length discrepancy correction.

Following total hip joint replacement (THJR), the durability of a prosthesis is limited by: wearing of frictional surfaces and loosening and migration of the prosthesis-cement-bone system. Literature review witnesses biomechanical studies focused mainly/only on hip functional state while none of them approached leg length discrepancy (LLD), posture unbalancing or spine related problems after THJR. Conversely, these latter could be critical elements for surgery and rehabilitation success, given the possible induction of asymmetric loading patterns. This study presents the results obtained by using a recently proposed methodology, to measure 3D subject posture balance and spine morphology and to evaluate its usefulness in individual therapy tuning/follow up. 3D subject's posture has been measured by means of 3D opto-electronic device, force platform and baropodography. 90 subjects after THJR have been included in this study. The subjects have been evaluated in two different epochs: 3 weeks after surgical intervention and after 3 months. 77/90 patients presented a LLD, pelvic obliquity and posture unbalancing. More than 90% of this group showed an overall postural re-balancing induced by the use of simple underfoot wedge. 70/77 patients needed wedge under the healthy side showing the surgical intervention produced a leg lengthening. 60/90 (52 LLD) patients underwent up to now to control and patients who wore the suggested wedge (63.4%) presented an improvement over all the considered quantitative parameters. Patients who wore a shorter than suggested wedge (23.1%), or that did not wear the suggested wedge (13.5%) presented a moderate or significant worsening of their postural balancing respectively.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Scoliosis and leg asymmetries: a reliable approach to assess wedge solutions efficacy.

The aetiological aspects as well as postural attitude implications represent an open question in the evaluation and in the treatment to be applied in scoliosis. Legs asymmetry is often recognized in scoliotic patients, but still controversial is the use of underfoot wedges in order to compensate pelvis tilt. This could be due to the great uncertainty and intrinsic error level of the traditional clinical and visual measurements methods that present limitations in the assessment of all the 3D involved postural and morphological parameters. This is especially true given the clinical difficulty in the estimation of pelvic torsion usually coupled to leg asymmetry. In such a topic, a significant helpful tool has been demonstrated to be the opto-electronic measurement approach proposed by D'Amico et al., particularly given the innocuousness of the analysis and the speed of the clinical parameter extraction procedure. The present investigation demonstrates on a sample of 220 patients the efficacy of under-foot wedge use in leg asymmetry correction, posture re-balancing and spine deformities reduction, pointing out the significant contribution of the 3D opto-electronic measurement approach in the critical process of assessing the correct under-foot wedge size, therapy monitoring and follow-up.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

A 3-D parametric biomechanical skeleton model for posture and spine shape analysis.

A project has been undertaken by our group to merge different segmental biomechanical models presented in literature into a full 3D parametric human skeleton representation, based on opto-electronic measurements. The obtained 3D skeleton model can then be fitted to each subject's anthropometrical characteristics. The accuracy and precision of this model relies both on anatomical findings (cadaver dissections, in vivo measurements, and parametric regression equations) reported in literature and on the approach and signal processing procedures we largely described and discussed in previous papers. The aim of this work is to present and describe the above mentioned 3D parametric biomechanical skeleton model. This model and the related graphical software package have been developed as a clinical tool for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, and they are currently used in different clinical centres.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗

PubMed2002

Joint segmental kinematic trunk motion and C.O.P. patterns for multifactorial posturographic analysis.

Measurements of postural sway are used to determine a subject ability to maintain upright stance. In many clinical analyses, postural control measured during a quiet standing provides very useful insights about CNS and Motor control behaviour. The aim of this paper is to present a new posturographic methodology including both classical parameter extraction techniques and new specially developed figuring algorithms, in which both kinematic patterns and ground reaction force COP evolution are jointly processed in order to identify the biomechanical behaviour in particular of the spine at each metameric level for both orthostatic posture and lateral bending test.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Baropodographic measurements and averaging in locomotion and postural analysis.

The use of quantitative baropodography measurements, either by means of pressure sensing foot insoles or floor mats, is quickly increasing in clinical and research fields for the analysis of a wide variety of foot and ankle disorders. In this paper we present a set of complex and detailed processing procedures necessary to correctly perform gait cycles normalisation and averaging as well as bivariate statistic for COP analysis, in order to extract quantitative and statistically significant parameters for clinical evaluation of locomotion and orthostatic posture.

Foot↗