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Kainz H, Koller W, Wallnöfer E, Bader TR, Mindler GT, Kranzl A. A framework based on subject-specific musculoskeletal models and Monte Carlo simulations to personalize muscle coordination retraining. Sci Rep 2024; 14:3567. [PMID: 38347085 PMCID: PMC10861532 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-53857-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 02/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Excessive loads at lower limb joints can lead to pain and degenerative diseases. Altering joint loads with muscle coordination retraining might help to treat or prevent clinical symptoms in a non-invasive way. Knowing how much muscle coordination retraining can reduce joint loads and which muscles have the biggest impact on joint loads is crucial for personalized gait retraining. We introduced a simulation framework to quantify the potential of muscle coordination retraining to reduce joint loads for an individuum. Furthermore, the proposed framework enables to pinpoint muscles, which alterations have the highest likelihood to reduce joint loads. Simulations were performed based on three-dimensional motion capture data of five healthy adolescents (femoral torsion 10°-29°, tibial torsion 19°-38°) and five patients with idiopathic torsional deformities at the femur and/or tibia (femoral torsion 18°-52°, tibial torsion 3°-50°). For each participant, a musculoskeletal model was modified to match the femoral and tibial geometry obtained from magnetic resonance images. Each participant's model and the corresponding motion capture data were used as input for a Monte Carlo analysis to investigate how different muscle coordination strategies influence joint loads. OpenSim was used to run 10,000 simulations for each participant. Root-mean-square of muscle forces and peak joint contact forces were compared between simulations. Depending on the participant, altering muscle coordination led to a maximum reduction in hip, knee, patellofemoral and ankle joint loads between 5 and 18%, 4% and 45%, 16% and 36%, and 2% and 6%, respectively. In some but not all participants reducing joint loads at one joint increased joint loads at other joints. The required alteration in muscle forces to achieve a reduction in joint loads showed a large variability between participants. The potential of muscle coordination retraining to reduce joint loads depends on the person's musculoskeletal geometry and gait pattern and therefore showed a large variability between participants, which highlights the usefulness and importance of the proposed framework to personalize gait retraining.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans Kainz
- Department of Biomechanics, Kinesiology and Computer Science in Sport, Centre for Sport Science and University Sports, University of Vienna, Auf der Schmelz 6a (USZ II), 1150, Vienna, Austria.
- Neuromechanics Research Group, Centre for Sport Science and University Sports, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Willi Koller
- Department of Biomechanics, Kinesiology and Computer Science in Sport, Centre for Sport Science and University Sports, University of Vienna, Auf der Schmelz 6a (USZ II), 1150, Vienna, Austria
- Neuromechanics Research Group, Centre for Sport Science and University Sports, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Doctoral School of Pharmaceutical, Nutritional and Sport Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Elias Wallnöfer
- Department of Biomechanics, Kinesiology and Computer Science in Sport, Centre for Sport Science and University Sports, University of Vienna, Auf der Schmelz 6a (USZ II), 1150, Vienna, Austria
- Neuromechanics Research Group, Centre for Sport Science and University Sports, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Doctoral School of Pharmaceutical, Nutritional and Sport Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Till R Bader
- Department of Radiology, Orthopaedic Hospital Speising, Vienna, Austria
| | - Gabriel T Mindler
- Department of Paediatric Orthopaedics and Foot Surgery, Orthopaedic Hospital Speising, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Bone and Growth Center, Vienna, Austria
| | - Andreas Kranzl
- Vienna Bone and Growth Center, Vienna, Austria
- Laboratory for Gait and Movement Analysis, Orthopaedic Hospital Speising, Vienna, Austria
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Wang S, Hase K, Funato T. Computational prediction of muscle synergy using a finite element framework for a musculoskeletal model on lower limb. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2023; 11:1130219. [PMID: 37533695 PMCID: PMC10392837 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1130219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 07/03/2023] [Indexed: 08/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated that the central nervous system activates muscles in module patterns to reduce the complexity needed to control each muscle while producing a movement, which is referred to as muscle synergy. In previous musculoskeletal modeling-based muscle synergy analysis studies, as a result of simplification of the joints, a conventional rigid-body link musculoskeletal model failed to represent the physiological interactions of muscle activation and joint kinematics. However, the interaction between the muscle level and joint level that exists in vivo is an important relationship that influences the biomechanics and neurophysiology of the musculoskeletal system. In the present, a lower limb musculoskeletal model coupling a detailed representation of a joint including complex contact behavior and material representations was used for muscle synergy analysis using a decomposition method of non-negative matrix factorization (NMF). The complexity of the representation of a joint in a musculoskeletal system allows for the investigation of the physiological interactions in vivo on the musculoskeletal system, thereby facilitating the decomposition of the muscle synergy. Results indicated that, the activities of the 20 muscles on the lower limb during the stance phase of gait could be controlled by three muscle synergies, and total variance accounted for by synergies was 86.42%. The characterization of muscle synergy and musculoskeletal biomechanics is consistent with the results, thus explaining the formational mechanism of lower limb motions during gait through the reduction of the dimensions of control issues by muscle synergy and the central nervous system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sentong Wang
- Graduate School of Informatics and Engineering, The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan
- Graduate School of Systems Design, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kazunori Hase
- Faculty of Systems Design, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Tetsuro Funato
- Graduate School of Informatics and Engineering, The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan
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Wang S, Hase K, Kita S, Ogaya S. Biomechanical effects of medial meniscus radial tears on the knee joint during gait: A concurrent finite element musculoskeletal framework investigation. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022; 10:957435. [PMID: 36299291 PMCID: PMC9589217 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.957435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 09/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The biomechanical variation in the knee during walking that accompanies medial meniscal radial tears stemming from knee osteoarthritis (OA) has not been explored. This study introduced a finite element musculoskeletal model using concurrent lower limb musculoskeletal dynamics and knee joint finite element analysis in a single framework and expanded the models to include knees with medial meniscal radial tears and total medial meniscectomy. The radial tears involved three locations: anterior horn, midbody, and posterior horn with grades of 33%, 50%, and 83% of the meniscus width. The shear and hoop stresses of the tear meniscus and tibial cartilage contact load, accompanying tears, and postmeniscectomy were evaluated during the stance phase of the gait cycle using the models. In the 83% width midbody tear group, shear stress at the end of the tear was significantly greater than in the intact meniscus and other tear groups, and the maximum shear stress was increased by 310% compared to the intact meniscus. A medial meniscus radial tear has a much smaller effect on the tibial cartilage load (even though in the 83% width tear, the cartilage/total load ratio increased by only 9%). However, the contact force on the tibial cartilage with total postmeniscectomy was increased by 178.93% compared with a healthy intact meniscus, and the peak contact pressure after meniscectomy increased from 11.94 to 12.45 MPa to 17.64 and 13.76 MPa, at the maximum weight acceptance and push-off, respectively. Our study shows that radial tears with larger medial meniscus widths are prone to high stress concentrations at the end of the tears, leading to the potential risk of complete meniscal rupture. Furthermore, although the tears did not change the cartilage load distribution, they disrupted the circumferential stress-transmitting function of the meniscus, thus greatly increasing the likelihood of the onset of knee OA. The significant increase in the tibial cartilage load with total postmeniscectomy indicates a potential risk of OA flare-ups. This study contributes to a better understanding of meniscal tear-induced OA biomechanical changes during human activities and offers some potential directions for surgical guidance of meniscectomies and the prophylaxis and treatment of OA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sentong Wang
- Human-Mechanical System Laboratory, Graduate School of Systems Design, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Japan
- *Correspondence: Sentong Wang, ; Kazunori Hase,
| | - Kazunori Hase
- Human-Mechanical System Laboratory, Faculty of Systems Design, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Japan
- *Correspondence: Sentong Wang, ; Kazunori Hase,
| | - Shunsuke Kita
- Biomechanics of Exercise and Sports in Physical Therapy Laboratory, Graduate Course of Health and Social Services, Saitama Prefectural University, Koshigaya, Japan
- Department of Rehabilitation, Soka Orthopedics Internal Medicine, Saitama, Japan
| | - Shinya Ogaya
- Biomechanics of Exercise and Sports in Physical Therapy Laboratory, Department of Physical Therapy, Saitama Prefectural University, Koshigaya, Japan
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