BRITE Pivot: A Modeling and Simulation Approach to Investigate Perinatal Changes to Musculoskeletal Health

There is currently little to no evidence for effective treatments for perinatal musculoskeletal pain. This Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances in Engineering (BRITE) Pivot award will allow the PI to develop perinatal musculoskeletal models and simulation approaches to enhance research capabilities of perinatal orthopedic issues.

Using modeling and simulation approaches will allow researchers to observe the internal workings of the musculoskeletal system and experiment with novel approaches to treat orthopedic issues, all without risking harm to the pregnant individual and fetus. Additionally, musculoskeletal simulations could shed light on why human females evolved slightly different physical traits than males that predispose them to poorer musculoskeletal health throughout their lifespan.

The models created in this project will lead to exponential improvements in the field of perinatal biomechanics. This award will also allow the PI to perform outreach activities to educate female workers in low-income jobs throughout the state about the musculoskeletal risks associated with pregnancy in various occupations, how and when to take advantage of work accommodations, and what their ergonomic options are to mitigate injury risk and protect their long-term health.

Biofidelic musculoskeletal models and simulation approaches are currently unavailable for studying perinatal and female-specific biological questions. The research project will integrate training and research for the PI and the students involved, to gain and integrate knowledge from two disciplines, muscle biomechanics and optimal control modeling and simulation, to forge a new direction in gestational organismal biomechanics research.

The overall research objective of this project is to understand how to properly model the impact of pregnancy on muscle contractile properties, and the corresponding effects on the cost functions that underlie gait selection with the following scientific objectives: (I) determine how pregnancy and postpartum alter torso and hip muscle mechanical properties, (II) determine the extent to which spine extensors accommodate for muscle mechanical property changes and postural changes during pregnancy, (III) determine changes to the gait objective function through typical pregnancy and postpartum. This research will result in improved biofidelity to a pregnancy model set and simulation approaches that more accurately represent objective function changes through pregnancy.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.