Study on the Biomechanical Mechanism of Patient-Orthosis Interaction Based on Subject-Specific Patient-Orthosis Coupling Musculoskeletal Model

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a prevalent, chronic, degenerative, and multifactorial disease associated with pain, stiffness, and physical disability, and it is a significant public health problem in the world.

Abnormal load distribution between knee medial and lateral compartments has been designated as the main biomechanical factor for the initiation and progression of KOA.

Accurate quantification of internal knee contact force during daily living activities is significant for understanding the biomechanical mechanism of patient-orthosis interaction and improving the treatment with knee orthotics.

During the passing years, some subject-specific musculoskeletal models have been proposed to improve the prediction accuracy of internal knee contact force.

However, approximations such as linear scaling, point contact assumptions, absence of ligaments, inaccurate muscle models, and absence of proper knee models are present in most models. Additionally, new human-orthosis coupling models have been proposed during the past years.

However, disadvantages such as a relatively simple human model, non-patient model, and rigid contact between human and orthosis, remain.

Therefore, the current musculoskeletal models and human-orthosis coupling models are not suitable for deeply studying the biomechanical mechanism of patient-orthosis interaction.

The goal of the research will focus on (1) developing a subject-specific patient-orthosis coupling musculoskeletal model considering subject-specific geometric models of bones, cartilages and meniscus, knee ligaments, muscle modelling, natural contact, and patients disease progression; (2) analyzing the biomechanical relationship between the applied orthopedic moment and internal contact forces of knee medial and lateral compartments, and understanding the interaction between the knee orthosis and KOA patients; (3) simulation-based design and evaluation of a prototype knee orthosis based on the developed interaction models.