Integrated Solutions to Musculoskeletal Challenges

About the Presentation

The Center for Orthopaedic Biomechanics is a group of integrated laboratories in mechanical engineering with a synergistic team of faculty, researchers, and surgeon partners (and occasional industry representatives), all working toward solutions to musculoskeletal clinical problems, improving patient function and long-term outcomes.

The seminar will review center capabilities and several integrated studies, including measurement of detailed knee kinematics with biplane radiography coupled with whole-body mechanics for healthy and joint replacement cohorts. These in vivo evaluations feed the development of musculoskeletal models for estimating muscle and joint loading, which integrate with complementary experimental and computational models for pre-clinical evaluation of implant mechanics during simulated activities of daily living. We have developed dynamic musculoskeletal simulations of patient activity within a finite element framework to overcome limitations in common techniques, and have applied these tools in evaluation of knee stability/mobility (contributing to a successful commercial knee system!). Recent work includes a comparison of pre-clinical predictions with the in vivo kinematic data from recent patient measurement, and applications of machine learning techniques in biomechanics, including automated image processing and real-time estimates of musculoskeletal mechanics for use in the clinic.