Abstract Archive

A musculoskeletal simulation study is necessary to identify the cause-effect relationship between hip abductor weakness and ACL loading during athletic events such as landing and jumping. The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of weakness of hip abductors on lower extremity kinematics ...

Animals easily navigate complex terrain and can rapidly and safely reject unexpected perturbations. However, the underlying mechanism at the muscle-tendon level of this behaviour is unclear. To study this, we attached a real muscle-tendon unit to a novel bio-robotic interface that emulates interacti...

Recordings of in vivo function in two rat distal hindlimb muscles were obtained across gait and grade conditions to analyse how force, fascicle strain and work are modulated in relation to changes in locomotor requirements. In vivo measurements are then used to evaluate Hill-type muscle models based...

Persons with transtibial amputation often exhibit problematic trunk motion during walking, yet optimal clinical interventions have yet to be established. This study applied an induced acceleration simulation analysis to identify differences in the whole-body strategy persons with versus without TTA ...

Chiari type I malformations (Chiari I) are congenital deformities characterized by migration of the cerebellar tonsils through the foramen magnum. The condition is associated with headaches, chronic fatigue syndrome, orthostatic intolerance, and other neurologic syndromes. Despite patients’ descri...

Mechanomyography (MMG), a low frequency sound signal, can be used to record muscle internal mechanical movements. In this study, we use MMG to measure muscle vibrations of human medial gastrocnemius (MG) during isometric plantarflexion at different contraction forces and at different ankle joint pos...

When faced with changes in surface stiffness, humans opt to preserve efficient movement dynamics by altering the spring-like mechanics of their legs, maintaining an invariant series stiffness of leg and surface. Here we examined the contribution of the foot to this mechanism.

Modifying the placement of the reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA) prosthesis can have an effect on functional outcomes. A biomechanical model of the shoulder was used to evaluate 48 RTSA configurations. To determine which of these was an optimised configuration, a total of 5040 simulations w...

Disease-induced impaired hand function leads reduced quality of life and is frequently assessed by physicians in routine care of scleroderma patients. Hand movements are complex and current clinical assessments are subjective or inaccurate. A mixed cohort of scleroderma patients and healthy controls...

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a safe non-invasive technique employed to investigate motor cortical or corticospinal functions. Magnetic stimulation can also be used for peripheral nerve (PMS) in order to assess muscle function. This presentation will briefly review the interest of using...

The IDEO brace improves function in limb salvage patients, yet the isolated power contribution by the brace has not been explored. Using two sets of tracking markers, it was found that the IDEO performed greater negative and positive work than the lower leg system. This is likely a result of the pro...

Our loading experiment in patients with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis before and after high tibial osteotomy revealed that not only COMP but also MMP-3, MMP-9, C2C, CPII, PRG-4 and IL-6 are sensitive to a walking exercise and that the pre-to postoperative change in knee adduction moment is ...

Strawberry pickers may be at high risk of low back disorders (LBDs) due to sustained lumbar flexion during bent posture. The aims of this study were to conduct motion analysis experiments of simulated harvesting movements and inverse dynamic analyses of lumbar spine loads. Results indicate higher L5...

In a full-factorial experiment, the effect of height, porosity and pore size at three levels on the structural stiffness of 3D-printed, polylactic acid (PLA) scaffolds was investigated. The porosity and structural properties of the scaffolds were measured. The principal finding was that all three fa...

Each skeletal muscle commonly comprises a muscle-tendon unit (MTU) where muscle fibers act as actuators while tendinous tissues act as elastic springs.Recent findings however point to the need to view skeletal muscles as the unity of multiple MTUs interacting with each other. Some in vivo findings i...

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is generally delivered to superficial skeletal muscles in static conditions (without functional movement occurring) and at sufficiently high current intensities to evoke visible contractions, with the goals to substitute/complement voluntary exercise (clin...

The most commonly injured area for golfers is the lower back. The purpose of this study was to describe the sequencing patterns of the pelvis, lower trunk (LT), and upper trunk (UT) in golfers with lower back pain (LBP). Twelve amateur golfers with a history of LBP performed five driver swings recor...

Gait variables, even temporospatial parameters, have close relationships between each variable. Previous study revealed some independent components among temporospatial parameters in normal subjects. In this study, we measured temporospatial and CoP related parameters with foot pressure measurement ...

In this study we evaluated kinematic differences between thirty-one teen (13-18yr) males and females during unanticipated single-leg drop-jump landings. We found that females performed the drop-jumps with less trunk flexion and greater anterior pelvic tilt. These findings indicate a more erect landi...

We investigated the use of shear wave tensiometry to detect modulation of Achilles tendon loading induced via exosuit assistance. Tendon shear wave speed, and hence tendon loading, exhibited systematic variations with walking speed, load carriage, and the timing of active ankle exosuit assistance.

The present study tested the hypothesis that increasing Achilles tendon stiffness by means of resistance exercise training will increase the effectiveness of calf stretching exercises for increasing gastrocnemius muscle fascicle length in children with CP. Measurements were taken in an intervention ...

Rollators are frequently prescribed for older persons suffering from gait and balance disorders in order to improve mobility and quality of life. Rollators are designed to decrease the risk of falls by improving gait mechanics of their users. However, data on the biomechanics of rollator assisted ga...

Free Achilles tendon external twist can be quantified using high resolution MRI and freehand 3D ultrasound methods. Internal fascicle twist may be measured by using feature tracking methods.

The aponeurosis of human muscles represents a significant proportion of the elastic tissues in series with the muscle. However, the aponeurosis should not be considered a simple spring, as is often assumpted in biomechanical models (e.g. Hill-type muscle models). Recent evidence for the effects of f...

The adjustments in motor unit recruitment and rate coding and the modulation of a spinal reflex pathway appear to differ when a lengthening contraction is performed on an isokinetic dynamometer compared with the lowering of an inertial load.

The dynamics of the plantarflexor muscles introduce a considerable delay in the postural control system of standing, destabilizing standing balance. Such dynamics had to be considered when developing a closed-loop controller for standing balance using functional electrical stimulation (FES). This pr...

Medial knee osteoarthritis (mKOA) progression is linked to a¶ high peak knee adduction moment (pKAM). Toe-in and toeout¶ gait modifications can reduce the pKAM, but prescribing a¶ uniform modification to an entire cohort has yielded mixed¶ clinical outcomes. Our study investigates the efficacy o...

Because the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries occurred during sport activities imply severe consequences for athletes and the risk of reinjury in the same and in the controlateral knee is higher when returning back on the sport field, the development of screening methods to investigate neuro...

Free Achilles tendon shape and 3D geometry measured using MRI and 3DUS are similar. 3DUS may be a better alternative to MRI for measuring free Achilles tendon geometry due to faster acquisition time and higher image resolution.