Abstract
BackgroundResults of finite element (FE) analyses can give insight into musculoskeletal diseases if physiological boundary conditions, which include the muscle forces during specific activities of daily life, are considered in the FE modelling. So far, many simplifications of the boundary conditions are currently made. This study presents an approach for FE modelling of the lower limb for which muscle forces were included.MethodsThe stance phase of normal gait was simulated. Muscle forces were calculated using a musculoskeletal rigid body (RB) model of the human body, and were subsequently applied to a FE model of the lower limb. It was shown that the inertial forces are negligible during the stance phase of normal gait. The contact surfaces between the parts within the knee were modelled as bonded. Weak springs were attached to the distal tibia for numerical reasons.ResultsHip joint reaction forces from the RB model and those from the FE model were similar in magnitude with relative differences less than 16%. The forces of the weak spring were negligible compared to the applied muscle forces. The maximal strain was 0.23% in the proximal region of the femoral diaphysis and 1.7% in the contact zone between the tibia and the fibula.ConclusionsThe presented approach based on FE modelling by including muscle forces from inverse dynamic analysis of musculoskeletal RB model can be used to perform analyses of the lower limb with very realistic boundary conditions. In the present form, this model can be used to better understand the loading, stresses and strains of bones in the knee area and hence to analyse osteotomy fixation devices.
Highlights
Results of finite element (FE) analyses can give insight into musculo‐ skeletal diseases if physiological boundary conditions, which include the muscle forces during specific activities of daily life, are considered in the FE modelling
The model was considered as valid and used to predict the muscle forces acting in the lower limb during normal gait, which were subsequently applied to the FE model
The difference observed for the components Fx_calc, Fx_exp can be related to the fact that the knee joint of the musculoskeletal rigid body (RB) model was modelled as a revolute joint, which does not allow translations and provides a single-axis rotation around the x-axis
Summary
Results of finite element (FE) analyses can give insight into musculo‐ skeletal diseases if physiological boundary conditions, which include the muscle forces during specific activities of daily life, are considered in the FE modelling. Simulating more positions of the knee joint to replicate a normal human daily activity, like slow walking, and considering muscle forces, as indicated in the present study, would be more realistic and would give a more accurate insight into the knee biomechanics. Adouni et al [21, 22] made an iterative musculoskeletal FE model of the lower limb in order to investigate the cartilage stresses during the stance phase and predict muscle forces. They considered the bones as rigid bodies. Such a FE model can be used to analyse the performance of high tibial osteotomy (HTO) fixation devices
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