Modal Frequencies Associations with Musculoskeletal Components of Human Legs for Extracorporeal Bone Healing Assessment Based on a Vibration Analysis Approach.

Benjamin Steven Vien,Mark Fitzgerald,Wing Kong Chiu,Matthias Russ

doi:10.3390/s22020670

Benjamin Steven Vien, Mark Fitzgerald + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/s22020670

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Abstract

Reliable and quantitative assessments of bone quality and fracture healing prompt well-optimised patient healthcare management and earlier surgical intervention prior to complications of nonunion and malunion. This study presents a clinical investigation on modal frequencies associations with musculoskeletal components of human legs by using a prototype device based on a vibration analysis method. The findings indicated that the first out-of-plane and coupled modes in the frequency range from 60 to 110 Hz are associated with the femur length, suggesting these modes are suitable quantitative measures for bone evaluation. Furthermore, higher-order modes are shown to be associated with the muscle and fat mass of the leg. In addition, mathematical models are formulated via a stepwise regression approach to determine the modal frequencies using the measured leg components as variables. The optimal models of the first modes consist of only femur length as the independent variable and explain approximately 43% of the variation of the modal frequencies. The subsequent findings provide insights for further development on utilising vibration-based methods for practical bone and fracture healing monitoring.

Highlights

Bone fracture healing is a complex multifactorial process of restoring its biological function and mechanical properties [1,2,3]
The dominant modes are Ω5–7 depicted by their associated relative power and amplitude and in the vicinity of 50–110 Hz
This study demonstrates a patented prototype device using a vibration analysis method to measure modes associated with musculoskeletal components of the leg

Summary

Introduction

Bone fracture healing is a complex multifactorial process of restoring its biological function and mechanical properties [1,2,3]. The bone healing process is divided into three overlapping stages: inflammatory, bone reparative and bone remodelling [3]. The fracture haematoma becomes organised forms a matrix for bone formation and primary callus. In the bone reparative stage, the soft callus holds the ends of the fractured bone, cannot support sufficient weight-bearing, and converts into hard callus. Once the fracture ends are bridged by a hard callus (bony bridge), the callus size decreases, and the bone remodels and restore the bone structure near to normal functionality which can take several years

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