BPCPPDYSOE21 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 21: Systems Biology III
BP 21.4: Talk
Tuesday, March 23, 2021, 15:10–15:30, BPa
Load distribution among the main structures of a passively flexed lumbar spine — •Julia M. Riede1, Falk Mörl2, Michael Günther1, Maria Hammer1, and Syn Schmitt1 — 1Computational Biophysics&Biorobotics, IMSB/Simtech, University of Stuttgart, Germany — 2Biomechanics&Ergonomics, FSA mbH Erfurt, Germany
Mechanical loads may induce degeneration of spinal structures. It is still unknown how the load during spine motion is distributed among the spine's main structures: muscles, vertebrae and facet joints, ligaments, and intervertebral discs. Currently, there are no measurements that capture the load on all spinal structures at once. Therefore, computer simulations are the method of choice to overcome the lack of knowledge about the biophysical properties and processes determining spinal in vivo dynamics.
For predicting the load distribution of spinal structures, we combined experimental and simulation methods. In experiments, we determined the overall stiffness for forward-flexing rotations between the lumbar vertebrae L5 and L4 of subjects lying in sideways position and being bent by a machine, without active muscle resistance. Forward dynamics simulations of this experiment using our detailed musculo-skeletal multibody model of the human allowed for a structural resolution of the loads in the L4|5 region. The results indicated that stiffness values of particularly ligaments and passive muscle tissue put in from literature resources were too high. With now corrected values, our model has gained validity for future investigations on human movement dynamics and modelling applications like e.g. exoskeletons.