The biomechanical role of the lacertus fibrosus of the biceps brachii Muscle.

PURPOSE: The lacertus fibrosus (LF) is involved in various surgeries. However, the biomechanical contribution of the LF remains unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the role of the lacertus fibrosus on the elbow and forearm kinematics and on the biceps brachii muscle lever arms. METHODS: This biomechanical study was performed on seven fresh-frozen upper limbs of cadavers. Elbow flexion, forearm supination, and biceps brachii muscle lever arms were analyzed in the intact conditions (I) and after superficial (R) and deep part (R2) of the lacertus fibrosus release, respectively. RESULTS: Elbow flexion shows a significant difference (p < 0.0001) between I, R, R2. Abduction/adduction shows a significant difference between I-R (p < 0.0001) and I-R2 (p < 0.0001). Supination does not show a significant difference in mean maximum amplitude, but between 40 and 70%, there are significant differences. There is a significant mean decrease of lever arm in flexion (28%) and supination (50%) after superficial and deep part of the lacertus fibrosus release. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that the lacertus fibrosus increases the lever arm during flexion and supination. It limits the flexion and abduction of the elbow and supination of the forearm. Lacertus fibrosus maintains the rhythmicity between the elbow flexion and supination of the forearm. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Basic science study, biomechanics.

Further consideration of the curvature of the Neandertal Femur.

OBJECTIVES: Neandertal femora are particularly known for having a marked sagittal femoral curvature. This study examined femoral curvature in Neandertals in comparison to a modern human population from Belgium by the use of three-dimensional (3D) quadric surfaces modeled from the bone surface. 3D models provide detailed information and enabled femoral curvature to be analyzed in conjunction with other morphological parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 3D models were created from CT scans of 75 modern human femora and 7 Neandertal femora. Quadric surfaces (QS) were created from the triangulated surface vertices in all areas of interest (neck, head, diaphyseal shaft, condyles) extracted from previously placed anatomical landmarks. The diaphyseal shaft was divided into five QS shapes and curvature was measured by degrees of difference between QS shapes. Each bone was placed in a local coordinate system enabling each bone to be analyzed in the same way. RESULTS: The use of 3D quadric surface fitting allowed the distribution of curvature with similarly curved femora to be analyzed and the different patterns of curvature between the two groups to be determined. The Neandertals were shown to have a higher degree of femoral curvature and a more distal point of femoral curvature than the modern human population from Belgium. CONCLUSIONS: Morphological aspects of the Neandertal femur are different from this modern human population although mainly seem unrelated to femoral curvature. The relative lack of correlations with other femoral bony morphological factors suggests femoral curvature variations may be related to other aspects.

Automated functional upper limb evaluation of patients with Friedreich ataxia using serious games rehabilitation exercises.

BACKGROUND: Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is a disease with neurological and systemic involvement. Clinical assessment tools commonly used for FRDA become less effective in evaluating decay in patients with advanced FRDA, particularly when they are in a wheelchair. Further motor worsening mainly impairs upper limb function. In this study, we tested if serious games (SG) developed for rehabilitation can be used as an assessment tool for upper limb function even in patients with advanced FRDA. METHODS: A specific SG has been developed for physical rehabilitation of patients suffering from neurologic diseases. The use of this SG, coupled with Kinect sensor, has been validated to perform functional evaluation of the upper limbs with healthy subjects across lifespan. Twenty-seven FRDA patients were included in the study. Patients were invited to perform upper limb rehabilitation exercises embedded in SG. Motions were recorded by the Kinect and clinically relevant parameters were extracted from the collected motions. We tested if the existence of correlations between the scores from the serious games and the severity of the disease using clinical assessment tools commonly used for FRDA. Results of patients were compared with a group a healthy subjects of similar age. RESULTS: Very highly significant differences were found for time required to perform the exercise (increase of 76%, t(68) = 7.22, P < 0.001) and for accuracy (decrease of 6%, t(68) = - 3.69, P < 0.001) between patients and healthy subjects. Concerning the patients significant correlations were found between age and time (R = 0.65, p = 0.015), accuracy (R = - 0.75, p = 0.004) and the total displacement of upper limbs. (R = 0.55, p = 0.031). Statistically significant correlations were found between the age of diagnosis and speed related parameters. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that SG reliably captures motor impairment of FRDA patients due to cerebellar and pyramidal involvement. Results also show that functional evaluation of FRDA patients can be performed during rehabilitation therapy embedded in games with the patient seated in a wheelchair. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was approved as a component of the EFACTS study ( Clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT02069509 , registered May 2010) by the local institutional Ethics Committee (ref. P2010/132).

3D Analysis of Upper Limbs Motion during Rehabilitation Exercises Using the KinectTM Sensor: Development, Laboratory Validation and Clinical Application.

Optoelectronic devices are the gold standard for 3D evaluation in clinics, but due to the complexity of this kind of hardware and the lack of access for patients, affordable, transportable, and easy-to-use systems must be developed to be largely used in daily clinics. The KinectTM sensor has various advantages compared to optoelectronic devices, such as its price and transportability. However, it also has some limitations: (in)accuracy of the skeleton detection and tracking as well as the limited amount of available points, which makes 3D evaluation impossible. To overcome these limitations, a novel method has been developed to perform 3D evaluation of the upper limbs. This system is coupled to rehabilitation exercises, allowing functional evaluation while performing physical rehabilitation. To validate this new approach, a two-step method was used. The first step was a laboratory validation where the results obtained with the KinectTM were compared with the results obtained with an optoelectronic device; 40 healthy young adults participated in this first part. The second step was to determine the clinical relevance of this kind of measurement. Results of the healthy subjects were compared with a group of 22 elderly adults and a group of 10 chronic stroke patients to determine if different patterns could be observed. The new methodology and the different steps of the validations are presented in this paper.

Validation of the Balance Board for Clinical Evaluation of Balance During Serious Gaming Rehabilitation Exercises.

BACKGROUND: Balance and posture can be affected in various conditions or become decreased with aging. A diminution of balance control induces an increase of fall's risk. INTRODUCTION: The Nintendo Wii Balance Board™ (WBB) is used in rehabilitation to perform balance exercises (using commercial video games). The WBB has also been validated to assess balance and posture in static conditions. However, there is currently no study investigating the use of WBB to assess balance during the realization of balance exercises using this device. The aim of this study was to validate the use of WBB, coupled with specially developed serious games, to assess dynamic balance during rehabilitation exercises. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty five subjects participated in this study. Subjects were asked to play two specially developed serious games. Center of pressure (CP) displacements were simultaneously recorded with a WBB and a gold standard force plate (FP). Nine parameters were derived from CP displacement. Bland and Altman plots, paired-sample t tests, intraclass correlation coefficient's, and Pearson's coefficient correlations were computed. RESULTS: Excellent correlation between both devices was found for each parameter for the two games (R = 0.95 and 0.96). DISCUSSION: Unlike previous work on the WBB, these excellent results were obtained without using any calibration procedure. Despite this, results were highly correlated between the WBB and the FP. CONCLUSIONS: The WBB could be used in clinics to assess balance during rehabilitation exercises and, thus, allows a more regular patient follow-up.

Femoral curvature variability in modern humans using three-dimensional quadric surface fitting.

INTRODUCTION: This study analysed femoral curvature in a population from Belgium in conjunction with other morphological characteristics by the use of three-dimensional (3D) quadric surfaces (QS) modelled from the bone surface. METHODS: 3D models were created from computed tomography data of 75 femoral modern human bones. Anatomical landmarks (ALs) were palpated in specific bony areas of the femur (shaft, condyles, neck and head). QS were then created from the surface vertices which enclose these ALs. The diaphyseal shaft was divided into five QS shapes to analyse curvature in different parts of the shaft. RESULTS: Femoral bending differs in different parts of the diaphyseal shaft. The greatest degree of curvature was found in the distal shaft (mean 4.5° range 0.2°-10°) followed by the proximal (mean 4.4° range 1.5°-10.2°), proximal intermediate (mean 3.7° range 0.9°-7.9°) and distal intermediate (mean 1.8° range 0.2°-5.6°) shaft sections. The proximal and distal angles were significantly more bowed than the intermediate proximal and the intermediate distal angle. There was no significant difference between the proximal and distal angle. No significant correlations were found between morphological characteristics and femoral curvature. An extremely large variability of femoral curvature with several bones displaying very high or low degrees of femoral curvature was also found. CONCLUSION: 3D QS fitting enables the creation of accurate models which can discriminate between different patterns in similar curvatures and demonstrates there is a clear difference between curvature in different parts of the shaft.

Determination of repeatability of kinect sensor.

BACKGROUND: The Kinect™ (Microsoft™, Redmond, WA) sensor, originally developed for gaming purposes, may have interesting possibilities for other fields such as posture and motion assessment. The ability of the Kinect sensor to perform biomechanical measurements has previously been studied and shows promising results. However, interday repeatability of the device is still not known. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study assessed the intra- and interday repeatability of the Kinect sensor compared with a standard stereophotogrammetric device during posture assessment for measuring segment lengths. Forty subjects took part in the study. Five motionless captures were performed in one session to assess posture. Data were simultaneously recorded with both devices. RESULTS: Similar intraclass correlations coefficient (ICC) values were found for intraday (ICC=0.94 for the Kinect device and 0.98 for the stereophotogrammetric device) and interday (ICC=0.88 and 0.87, respectively) repeatability. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study suggest that a cost-effective, easy-to-use, and portable single markerless camera offers the same repeatability during posture assessment as an expensive, time-consuming, and nontransportable marker-based device.

The lacertus fibrosus of the biceps brachii muscle: an anatomical study.

PURPOSE: The lacertus fibrosus (LF) is involved in various surgical procedures. However, the anatomy, morphometry, topography and biomechanical involvements of LF are not clear. The purpose of this study was to determine the anatomical and morphometric variations of LF, and to correlate this with anthropometric and morphometric measurements of the upper limb. Furthermore, the presence or absence of a deep layer of LF was verified using forearm cross-sections and dissections. METHODS: This anatomical study was performed by observation of dissections and transverse sections obtained from 50 cadavers. Morphometric analyses [length and width of LF and biceps tendon, stature, length of upper limb, forearm, bi-epicondylar width, forearm perimeter, biceps brachii muscle perimeter (BBm)] were also performed. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that there was no significant correlation between LF morphology and morphometric upper limb measurements. The deep layer of LF was observed in all specimens. CONCLUSION: Results of this paper indicate that the LF presents individual characteristics such as length and width. The deeper layer of LF was observed on all specimens. The possible role of LF in force transmission during flexion, BBm moment arm adjustment and supination reduction is discussed in view of these results.

[Application of the musculo-skeletal modelling software lhpFusionBox to a paleoanthropological problem: the Spyrou Neandertal moves!]. / Application du logiciel de modélisation musculo-squelettique lhpFusionBox à une problématique paléo-anthropologique - Spyrou le Néandertalien marche !

LhpFusionBox is a program originally designed for biomechanical and clinical studies relating to the musculoskeletal system of anatomically modern humans (AMH). The program has recently been adapted for paleontological purposes and used to reconstruct and biomechanically analyse a fossil hominid. There is no complete Neandertal skeleton in the fossil record. The aim of the study was to reconstruct a complete three-dimensional (3D) model of a Neandertal using the relatively complete Spy II Neandertal and to conduct biomechanical feasibility studies on the knee and hamstring moment arms of the skeleton. Different Neandertal specimens were scaled to the size of Spy II to replace incomplete or missing bones. Biomechanical feasibility studies performed on the knee seem to show that Neandertal and AMHh gait is similar and Neandertals were shown to have larger moment arms in the hamstring muscles, which would have given them a mechanical advantage. The complete Neandertal was printed in 3D and used as the base to create the artistic model of "Spyrou" housed at l'Espace de l'Homme de Spy (EHoS) museum.

[A technological platform for cerebral palsy - the ICT4Rehab project]. / Une plate-forme technologique liée à la paralysie cérébrale - le projet ICT4Rehab.

The musculoskeletal system (MSS) is essential to allow us performing every-day tasks, being able to have a professional life or developing social interactions with our entourage. MSS pathologies have a significant impact on our daily life. It is therefore not surprising to find MSS-related health problems at the top of global statistics on professional absenteeism or societal health costs. The MSS is also involved in central nervous conditions, such as cerebral palsy (CP). Such conditions show complex etiology that complicates the interpretation of the observable clinical signs and the establishment of a wide consensus on the best practices to adopt for clinical monitoring and patient follow-up. These elements justify the organization of fundamental and applied research projects aiming to develop new methods to help clinicians to cope with the complexity of some MSS disorders. The ICT4Rehab project (www.ict4rehab.org) developed an integrated platform providing tools that enable easier management and visualization of clinical information related to the MSS of CP patients. This platform is opened to every interested clinical centre.

Impact of the mandibular divergence on the position of the inferior alveolar nerve and mylohyoid nerve: a computed tomography study and its relevance to bilateral sagittal split osteotomy.

PURPOSE: Bilateral sagittal split osteotomy (BSSO) is the most common procedure used to treat mandibular deformities. BSSO procedures include the Epker technique and the Dal Pont technique which are the most frequently used. Because of the intramandibular pathway of the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN), neurosensory disturbance of the lower lip and chin is the most common complication of BSSO. This study performed quantitative measurements from computed tomographic (CT) data obtained on dry human mandibles. The main aim of the study was to evaluate if mandibular divergence can predict the position of the IAN and the mylohyoid nerve (MHN) to prevent nerve injury. METHODS: After CT and 3D reconstruction of 65 dry mandibles, 30 measurements were made on 3 planes for each hemi-mandible. This allowed analysis of the IAN and MHN pathways. Three groups of hemi-mandibles were created depending on their divergence, and a statistical analysis was performed. RESULTS: Eight out of the 30 measurements showed a significant difference among the 3 groups. There was no significant difference for the remaining 22 measurements. CONCLUSIONS: The IAN seems to have a more superior position in the groups of mandibular hypo- and hyper-divergence. Orthognathic surgeons should use a more superficial retromolar bone incision in these cases. Finally, the Epker technique would be safer for preserving the MHN in normo- and hypo-divergent patients.

In vitro biomechanical study of femoral torsion disorders: effect on tibial proximal epiphyseal cancellous bone deformation.

PURPOSE: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is a degenerative disease mainly found in elderly population. Valgus deformity seems to be directly related to lateralised gonarthrosis. Contradictory outcomes of surgical series are published in the literature and report satisfactory and unsatisfactory long-term results. Lower limb torsions disorders have been considered as being another factor inducing gonarthrosis. This paper presents an in vitro study aiming at quantifying the relationships between experimental femoral torsion disorders (medial and lateral) and the deformation of the cancellous bone of the proximal tibial epiphysis (CB(TPE)). METHODS: Five left fresh-frozen lower limbs were used. Specimens were mounted on an experimental jig and muscles were loaded. Six measurement elements, including strain gages, were introduced into CB(TPE) to measure relative deformation. Experimental osteotomy control was performed using a specially devised system allowing various amplitudes of medial and lateral torsion. CB(TPE) deformations were measured during knee flexion movement. RESULTS: Intra-observer reproducibility of CB(TPE) deformations showed a mean coefficient of multiple correlation of 0.93 and a mean coefficient of variation of 9% for flexion. Intra-specimen repeatability showed a mean RMS difference ranging from 7 to 10% and a mean ICC of 0.98. CB(TPE) deformations were significantly influenced by femoral torsion disorder conditions and range-of-motion (ROM) for most measurement elements. No interaction between torsion condition and ROM was observed. Globally, CB(TPE) deformation in the lateral compartment increased during experimental lateral torsion disorder simulation and decreased during medial torsion simulation. The opposite behaviour was observed in the medial compartment. The decrease and/or increase were not always proportional to the degree of femoral torsional disorder simulated. CONCLUSION: Experimental results from this study do not fully agree with previously published clinical observations on the femoral torsion disorder. The present quantified results do not support that medial femoral torsion disorder induces an increased lateral tibial deformation, which could be linked to gonarthrosis observed in this compartment. In summary, our results showed that medial and lateral femoral torsion disorder conditions applied in normally aligned lower limb induced a deformation increase in the medial and in the lateral compartment, respectively.

In vitro 3D-kinematics of the upper cervical spine: helical axis and simulation for axial rotation and flexion extension.

PURPOSE: Registration of 3D-anatomical model and kinematics data is reported to be an accurate method to provide 3D-joint simulation. We applied this approach to discrete kinematics analysis of upper cervical spine (UCS) during axial rotation (AR) and flexion extension (FE) to create anatomical models with movement simulation including helical axis. METHODS: Kinematics and CT imaging data were sampled in ten anatomical specimens. Using technical and anatomical marker digitizing, spatial position of segments was computed for five discrete positions of AR and FE using a 3D-digitizer. Computerized tomography was used to create anatomical models and to assure kinematics and imaging data registration for simulation. Kinematics was processed using orientation vector and helical axis (HA) computation. RESULTS: Maximal standard error on marker digitizing was 0.47 mm. Range of motion and coupled movement during AR was in agreement with previous in vitro studies. HA location and orientation have shown low variation at the occipitoaxial and atlantoaxial levels for FE and AR, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We developed a protocol to create UCS anatomical model simulations including three-dimensional discrete kinematics, using previously validated methods. In this study, simultaneous segmental movement simulation and display of HA variations was shown to be feasible. Although partially confirming previous results, helical axis computation showed variations of motion patterns dependent on movement, level and specimen. Further in vivo investigations are needed to confirm relevance of this method in the clinical field.

Pelvis and femur shape prediction using principal component analysis for body model on seat comfort assessment. Impact on the prediction of the used palpable anatomical landmarks as predictors.

A personalized pelvis and femur shape is required to build a finite element buttock thigh model when experimentally investigating seating discomfort. The present study estimates the shape of pelvis and femur using a principal component analysis (PCA) based method with a limited number of palpable anatomical landmarks (ALs) as predictors. A leave-one-out experiment was designed using 38 pelvises and femurs from a same sample of adult specimens. As expected, prediction errors decrease with the number of ALs. Using the maximum number of easily palpable ALs (13 for pelvis and 4 for femur), average errors were 5.4 and 4.8 mm respectively for pelvis and femur. Better prediction was obtained when the shapes of pelvis and femur were predicted separately without merging the data of both bones. Results also show that the PCA based method is a good alternative to predict hip and lumbosacral joint centers with an average error of 5.0 and 9.2 mm respectively.

Metatarsal arch deformation and forefoot kinematics during gait in asymptomatic subjects.

This study aimed to investigate both foot arch-shaped architecture and forefoot kinematics during gait. Using a dedicated three-compartment forefoot subdivision, we studied asymptomatic subjects and quantified disorders related to the metatarsal arch. Foot motion and arch shape were measured in 30 healthy subjects with a motion-capture system and force plates. Kinematic results were expressed using a novel model, which anatomically divides the forefoot into three parts. This model integrated the medial longitudinal arch angle and the metatarsal arch height and width. During the first part of stance phase, the medial longitudinal arch flattens and all foot segments move toward dorsiflexion. During terminal stance and preswing phase, medial longitudinal and metatarsal arch restoration was noted with plantarflexion of all segments, an eversion and abduction of the medial forefoot, and an inversion and adduction of the lateral forefoot. Kinematics obtained with the proposed forefoot model corroborates metatarsal arch restoration in late stance. This observation supports the fact that foot architecture is supple until midstance and subsequently creates a rigid lever arm with restored arches to support propulsion. This study's results and methods highlight the potential of the three-compartment model for use in clinical decision-making.

Multiscale modelling of the skeleton for the prediction of the risk of fracture.

BACKGROUND: The development of a multiscale model of the human musculoskeletal system able to accurately predict the risk of bone fracture is still a grand challenge. The aim of this paper is to present the Living Human Project, to describe the final system and to review the achievements obtained so far. The Living Human musculoskeletal supermodel is conceived as the interconnection of five interdependent sub-models: the continuum, the boundary condition, the constitutive equation, the remodelling history and the failure criterion sub-models. METHODS: Methods are available to develop accurate subject-specific finite element models of bones that can incorporate the subject's tissue-density distribution and empirically derived constitutive laws. Anatomo-functional musculoskeletal models can be registered with gait analysis data to predict muscle and joint forces acting on the patient's skeleton during gait. These are the boundary conditions for the continuum models that showed an average error of 12% in the prediction of the failure load. Still, the entire supermodel is defined as a collection of procedural macros to predict the risk of fracture and should be improved. FINDINGS: Even with these limitations, the organ-level model already found some clinically relevant applications, especially in the analysis of joint prostheses. Also, the body-organ level multiscale model finds some clinical applications in paediatric skeletal oncology. The tissue- and the cell-level models are not yet fully validated. Thus, they cannot be safely used in clinical applications. INTERPRETATION: The continuum sub-model is the most mature model available. More powerful methods are needed for the generation of anatomo-functional musculoskeletal models. Muscle force prediction should be improved, investigating new probabilistic approaches to identify the neuro-motor strategy. The changes of the tissue properties in the various regions of the skeleton and predictive remodelling models should be included. An adequate information technology infrastructure should be developed to support collaborative work and integration of different sub-models.

The Use of Mobile Games to Assess Cognitive Function of Elderly with and without Cognitive Impairment.

BACKGROUND: In the past few years numerous mobile games have been developed to train the brain. There is a lack of information about the relation between the scores obtained in these games and the cognitive abilities of the patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether or not mobile games can be used to assess cognitive abilities of elderly. METHODS: Twenty healthy young adults, 29 old patients with cognitive impairments (Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) [20- 24]) and 27-aged controls participated in this study. Scores obtained in 7 mobile games were correlated with MMSE and the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Evaluation revised (ACE-R). RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were found for all games between patients with cognitive impairments and the aged controls. Correlations between the average scores of the games and the MMSE and ACE-R are significant (R = 0.72 [p < 0.001] and R = 0.81 [p < 0.001], respectively). CONCLUSION: Scores of cognitive mobile games could be used as an alternative to MMSE and ACE-R to evaluate cognitive function of aged people with and without cognitive impairment at least when MMSE is higher than 20/30.

Multimod Data Manager: a tool for data fusion.

Nowadays biomedical engineers regularly have to combine data from multiple medical imaging modalities, biomedical measurements and computer simulations and this can demand the knowledge of many specialised software tools. Acquiring this knowledge to the depth necessary to perform the various tasks can require considerable time and thus divert the researcher from addressing the actual biomedical problems. The aim of the present study is to describe a new application called the Multimod Data Manager, distributed as a freeware, which provides the end user with a fully integrated environment for the fusion and manipulation of all biomedical data. The Multimod Data Manager is generated using a software application framework, called the Multimod Application Framework, which is specifically designed to support the rapid development of computer aided medicine applications. To understand the general logic of the Data Manager, we first introduce the framework from which it is derived. We then illustrate its use by an example--the development of a complete subject-specific musculo-skeletal model of the lower limb from the Visible Human medical imaging data to be used for predicting the stresses in the skeleton during gait. While the Data Manager is clearly still only at the prototype stage, we believe that it is already capable of being used to solve a large number of problems common to many biomedical engineering activities.

Balance improvement after physical therapy training using specially developed serious games for cerebral palsy children: preliminary results.

PURPOSE: Cerebral palsy (CP) leads to various clinical signs mainly induced by muscle spasticity and muscle weakness. Among these ones impaired balance and posture are very common. Traditional physical therapy exercise programs are focusing on this aspect, but it is difficult to motivate patients to regularly perform these exercises, especially at home without therapist supervision. Specially developed serious games (SG) could therefore be an interesting option to motivate children to perform specific exercise for balance improvement. METHOD: Ten CP children participated in this study. Patients received four sessions of SG included into conventional therapy (1 session of 30 min a week during 4 weeks). Trunk control and balance were assessed using Trunk Control Motor Scale (TCMS) before and after interventions. RESULTS: Children presented a significant improvement in TCMS global score after interventions [37.6 (8.7) and 39.6 (9.5) before and after interventions, respectively, p = 0.04]. CONCLUSION: SG could therefore be an interesting option to integrate in the conventional treatment of CP children. Implication for Rehabilitation Cerebral palsy (CP) leads to balance issues. Rehabilitation exercises are not performed (enough) at home. Serious games (SG) could increase patients' motivation. SG increase balance control of CP children.