Loading can dramatically reduce the vibratory displacement and the operating frequency in vibrotactile systems implementations that use an eccentric mass motor, but this phenomenon is not well modeled or understood. In this work, we derive a dynamic model of this phenomenon and implement a system for measuring stiffness and grip force that take advantage of this phenomenon. The system is based on a non-interposed sensing approach using an eccentric mass dc motor mounted on the outside of the index finger. If the device were to be worn as a wearable sensor, it could be embedded in a ring. The basic idea is that a person could wear the ring sensor and through it measure the stiffness and grip force when squeezing various objects, without requiring the ring sensor to actually contact the object. The results show that grip force and muscle stiffness vary with motor velocity (operating frequency) and thus that the measurement of velocity can be used to infer grip force and stiffness. With the validated model, we also developed an optimization routine which computes the best design parameters for inertial load and voltage to maximize the phenomenon. This provided insight into the optimal parameters that should be used in an actual ring sensor design to achieve high performance by attaining a good trade-off between high sensor sensitivity and low level of vibration.

Les arthroplasties totales de hanche à double mobilité sont utilisées en clinique humaine à Saint Etienne depuis près de 30 ans. Ce type d'implants a connu un intérêt croissant au cours de la dernière décennie grâce à sa grande stabilité. Dans un premier temps, nous rapportons l'historique de ces implants à double mobilité. Nous effectuons ensuite une analyse du mouvement au niveau de l'articulation de la hanche, afin de caractériser les amplitudes de mouvement utiles qui permettent d'effectuer les mouvements requis par les activités de la vie courante et nous comparons ces données aux amplitudes de mouvement que l'on peut attendre de différents modèles d'arthroplasties totales de hanche, y compris les arthroplasties totales de hanche à double mobilité. Nous analysons également la stabilité que confère ce type d'implant en développant la notion de distance de séparation avant que ne survienne une luxation. A partir des données de la littérature, nous rapportons les situations cliniques pour lesquelles le risque de luxation est accru. La survie des arthroplasties totales de hanche à double mobilité est rapportée à partir d'une série d'implants suivis longitudinalement. A 10 ans, 95 % d'une série de 106 implants étaient toujours en fonctionnement. L'usure a pu être déterminée à partir de 40 inserts en polyéthylène explantés. Ces inserts à double mobilité ne présentaient pas une usure supérieure, qu'il s'agisse de l'usure linéaire ou de l'usure volumétrique, lorsqu'on les comparait aux données d'autres séries avec couple métal polyéthylène. Si l'usure linéaire de la surface convexe était particulièrement faible, elle avoisinait l'usure de la surface interne concave lorsqu'on la rapportait au volume. Les implants explantés lors de reprises chirurgicales ont pu faire l'objet d'une analyse à la recherche de complications mécaniques. Des différences ont été observées quant aux double mobilité. La luxation intra-prothétique est une complication spécifique de ce type d'implants. Ses données démographiques ont pu être appréciées à partir de 63 cas sur une période de 12 ans. Le couple de frottement au niveau de la surface convexe a été analysé sur un bac d'essai en fonction du matériau de la cupule métallique. Ce couple de frottement était inférieur pour l'acier inoxydable forgé comparé à un alliage de chrome cobalt coulé. Pour de faibles amplitudes de mouvement, il n'a pas été possible de mettre en évidence expérimentalement un quelconque effet protecteur de la présence de deux niveaux de mobilité sur les contraintes en cisaillement à l'interface os cupule. La présence d'un degré de mobilité externe, même si le couple de friction y est supérieur à la zone de mobilité interne, permet de protéger l'ancrage dans une certaine mesure lorsque la mobilité interne fonctionne mal.

La scoliose est une déformation du rachis dans les trois plans de l'espace. Cette déformation est évolutive pendant toute la croissance. Les enjeux sont pronostics et thérapeutiques. L'étude de la déformation scoliotique en 3D grâce aux méthodes d'imagerie actuelles a permis de décrire un schéma spécifique 3D de scoliose évolutive à partir de paramètres du plan transversal. Ce schéma spécifique 3D est indépendant de la topographie de la scoliose et apparaît tôt dans l'évolution de la scoliose. Prédire l'aggravation mène à pouvoir anticiper le traitement pour les scolioses à risque. Le traitement conservateur par corset reste le traitement de choix en période de croissance. Mais il n'est pas consensuel. L'étude de l'effet en 3D des corsets, au cas par cas, a permis de montrer la grande variabilité de l'effet des corsets sur l'ensemble des paramètres 3D rachidiens et pelviens. Les corsets prennent appui sur la cage thoracique. Leur effet sur la forme 3D de la cage thoracique est mal connu par manque de méthode d'analyse fiable et reproductible en position debout validée chez les patients scoliotiques. La méthode de reconstruction 3D de la cage thoracique à partir de radiographies biplanaires calibrées, développée et validée au LBM chez des patients sains, a fait l'objet dans ce travail, d'une validation chez les patients scoliotiques. L'accès à la morphologie 3D du rachis et de la cage thoracique a donc permis d'étudier de façon préliminaire l'effet des corsets sur la cage thoracique. Cette étude a montré une grande variabilité de l'effet des corsets et a permis de poser les bases de futures études cliniques et biomécaniques visant améliorer la compréhension de l'effet 3D des corsets sur le rachis et la cage thoracique.

Although people can typically maintain balance on moving trains, or press the appropriate button on an elevator with little conscious effort, the apparent ease of these sensorimotor tasks is courtesy of neural mechanisms that continuously interpret many sensory input signals to activate muscles throughout the body. The overall hypothesis of this work is that motor behaviors emerge from the interacting constraints and features of the nervous and musculoskeletal systems. The nervous system may simplify the control problem by recruiting muscles in groups called muscle synergies rather than individually. Because muscles cannot be recruited individually, muscle synergies may represent a neural constraint on behavior. However, the constraints of the musculoskeletal system and environment may also contribute to determining motor behaviors, and so must be considered in order to identify and interpret muscle synergies. Here, I integrated techniques from musculoskeletal modeling, control systems engineering, and data analysis to identify neural and biomechanical constraints that determine the muscle activity and ground reaction forces during the automatic postural response (APR) in cats. First, I quantified the musculoskeletal constraints on force production during postural tasks in a detailed, 3D musculoskeletal model of the cat hindlimb. I demonstrated that biomechanical constraints on force production in the isolated hindlimb do not uniquely determine the characteristic patterns of force activity observed during the APR. However, when I constrained the muscles in the model to activate in a few muscle synergies based on experimental data, the force production capability drastically changed, exhibiting a characteristic rotation with the limb axis as the limb posture was varied that closely matched experimental data. Finally, after extending the musculoskeletal model to be quadrupedal, I simulated the optimal feedforward control of individual muscles or muscle synergies to regulate the center of mass (CoM) during the postural task. I demonstrated that both muscle synergy control and optimal muscle control reproduced the characteristic force patterns observed during postural tasks. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the nervous system may use a low-dimension control scheme based on muscle synergies to approximate the optimal motor solution for the postural task given the constraints of the musculoskeletal system. One primary contribution of this work was to demonstrate that the influences of biomechanical mechanisms in determining motor behaviors may be unclear in reduced models, a factor that may need to be considered in other studies of motor control. The biomechanical constraints on force production in the isolated hindlimb did not predict the stereotypical forces observed during the APR unless a muscle synergy organization was imposed, suggesting that neural constraints were critical in resolving musculoskeletal redundancy during the postural task. However, when the model was extended to represent the quadrupedal system in the context of the task, the optimal control of the musculoskeletal system predicted experimental force patterns in the absence of neural constraints. A second primary contribution of this work was to test predictions concerning muscle synergies developed in theoretical neuromechanical models in the context of a natural behavior, suggesting that these concepts may be generally useful for understanding motor control. It has previously been shown in abstract neuromechanical models that low-dimension motor solutions such as muscle synergies can emerge from the optimal control of individual muscles. This work demonstrates for the first time that low-dimension motor solutions can emerge from optimal muscle control in the context of a natural behavior and a realistic musculoskeletal model. This work also represents the first explicit comparison of muscle synergy control and optimal muscle control during a natural behavior. It demonstrates that an explicit low-dimension control scheme based on muscle synergies is competent for performance of the postural task across biomechanical conditions, and in fact, may approximate the motor solution predicted by optimal muscle control. This work advances our understanding how the constraints and features of the nervous and musculoskeletal systems interact to produce motor behaviors. In the future, this understanding may inform improved clinical interventions, prosthetic applications, and the general design of distributed, hierarchal systems.

Post-stroke hemiparesis usually leads to slow and asymmetric gait. Improving walking ability, specifically walking speed, is a common goal post-stroke. To develop effective post-stroke rehabilitation interventions, the underlying mechanisms that lead to changes in walking ability need to be fully understood. The overall goal of this research was to investigate the deficits that limit hemiparetic walking ability and understand the influence of post-stroke rehabilitation on walking ability in persons with post-stroke hemiparesis. Forward dynamics walking simulations of hemiparetic subjects (and speed-matched controls) with different levels of functional walking status were developed to investigate the relationships between individual muscle contributions to pre-swing forward propulsion, swing initiation and power generation subtasks and functional walking status. The analyses showed that muscle contributions to the walking subtasks are indeed related to functional walking status in the hemiparetic subjects. Increased contributions from the paretic leg muscles (i.e., plantarflexors and hip flexors) and reduced contributions from the non-paretic leg muscles (i.e., knee and hip extensors) to the walking subtasks were critical in obtaining higher functional walking status. Changes in individual muscle contributions to propulsion during rehabilitation were investigated by developing a large number of subject-specific forward dynamics simulations of hemiparetic subjects (with different levels of pre-training propulsion symmetry) walking pre- and post-locomotor training. Subjects with low paretic leg propulsion pre-training increased contributions to propulsion from both paretic leg (i.e., gastrocnemius) and non-paretic leg muscles (i.e., hamstrings) to improve walking speed during rehabilitation. Subjects with high paretic leg propulsion pre-training improved walking speed by increasing contributions to propulsion from the paretic leg ankle plantarflexors (i.e., soleus and gastrocnemius). This study revealed two primary strategies that hemiparetic subjects use to increase walking speed during rehabilitation. Experimental analyses were used to determine post-training biomechanical predictors of successful post-stroke rehabilitation, defined as performance over a 6-month follow-up period following rehabilitation. The strongest predictor of success was step length symmetry. Other potential predictors of success were identified including increased paretic leg hip flexor output in late paretic leg single-limb stance, increased paretic leg knee extensor output from mid to late paretic leg stance and increased paretic leg propulsion during pre-swing. / text

Computer generated three-dimensional (3-D) models are being used at increasing rates in the fields of entertainment, education, research, and engineering. One of the aspects of interest includes the behavior and function of the musculoskeletal system. One such tool used by engineers is the finite element method (FEM) to simulate the physics behind muscle mechanics. There are several ways to represent 3-D muscle geometry, namely a bulk, a central line of action and a spline model. The purpose of this study is to exmine how these three representations affect the overall outcome of muscle movement. This is examined in a series of phases with Phase I using primitive geometry as a simplistic representation of muscle. Phases II and III add anatomical representations of the shoulder joint with increasing complexity. Two methods of contraction focused on an applied maximal force (Fmax) and prescribed displacement. Further analyses tested the variability of material properties as well as simulated injury scenarios. The results were compared based on displacement, von Mises stress and solve time. As expected, more complex models took longer to solve. It was also supported that applied force is a preferred method of contraction as it allows for antagonistic and synergistic interaction between muscles. The most important result found in these studies was the consistency in the levels of displacement and stress distribution across the three different 3-D representations of muscle. This stability allows for the interchangeability between the three different representations of muscles and will permit researchers to choose to use either a bulk, central line of action or a spline model. The determination of which 3-D representation to use lies in what physical phenomenon (motion, injury etc.) is being simulated.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Københavns universitet, 2005. / Abstract in Danish. Title from title screen (viewed on July 10, 2008). Title from document title page. Includes bibliographical references. Available in PDF format via the World Wide Web.

abstract: Locomotion in natural environments requires coordinated movements from multiple body parts, and precise adaptations when changes in the environment occur. The contributions of the neurons of the motor cortex underlying these behaviors are poorly understood, and especially little is known about how such contributions may differ based on the anatomical and physiological characteristics of neurons. To elucidate the contributions of motor cortical subpopulations to movements, the activity of motor cortical neurons, muscle activity, and kinematics were studied in the cat during a variety of locomotion tasks requiring accurate foot placement, including some tasks involving both expected and unexpected perturbations of the movement environment. The roles of neurons with two types of neuronal characteristics were studied: the existence of somatosensory receptive fields located at the shoulder, elbow, or wrist of the contralateral forelimb; and the existence projections through the pyramidal tract, including fast- and slow-conducting subtypes. Distinct neuronal adaptations between simple and complex locomotion tasks were observed for neurons with different receptive field properties and fast- and slow-conducting pyramidal tract neurons. Feedforward and feedback-driven kinematic control strategies were observed for adaptations to expected and unexpected perturbations, respectively, during complex locomotion tasks. These kinematic differences were reflected in the response characteristics of motor cortical neurons receptive to somatosensory information from different parts of the forelimb, elucidating roles for the various neuronal populations in accommodating disturbances in the environment during behaviors. The results show that anatomical and physiological characteristics of motor cortical neurons are important for determining if and how neurons are involved in precise control of locomotion during natural behaviors. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Neuroscience 2015

abstract: Introduction. Intervertebral disc degeneration (DD) is one of the most common diagnoses in patients with neck pain and contributes to worldwide disability. Despite the advances in diagnostic imaging today, little is known about functional status of cervical DD. The purpose of this research was to 1) develop and validate an ovine model of cervical spine DD, 2) to quantify and compare the effect of disc lesions on dynamic spinal stiffness, and 3) study the effect of disc lesions on spinal accelerations and displacements during two types of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT). Methods. Fifteen sheep received surgically induced disc injury to the mid-cervical spine via scalpel wound a minimum of five months earlier and 15 sheep served as controls. All animals were biomechanically assessed at the level of the lesion using swept-sine mechanical loads from 0-20 Hz under load control to quantify dynamic dorsoventral (DV) spine stiffness (load/deformation, N/mm). The effect of disc lesion on stiffness was assessed using a one-factor repeated measures ANOVA comparing 32 mechanical excitation frequencies. Tri-axial accelerometers rigidly attached to adjacent vertebrae across the target level further evaluated the effect of disc lesion on spinal motion response during two types of SMTs. A 2x6x2 repeated measures ANOVA examined the effect of disc lesion and SMT force-time profile on spine motion response. Postmortem histological analysis graded specimens at the target site and comparison was made with descriptive statistics. Results. Annular disc tears were only observed in the disc lesion group and the mild degeneration identified was localized to the injured annular tissue that did not progress to affect other areas of the disc. No difference in overall DD grading was found among the groups. DV stiffness was significantly increased in the disc lesion group by approximately 34% at 31 of 32 frequencies examined (p<.05). SMTs resulted in decreased displacements in the disc lesion group (p<.05), and SMT type significantly influenced spinal accelerations for both the DV and axial planes. Conclusion. Disc lesions in the ovine cervical spine produce localized annular degenerative changes that increase the cervical spine dynamic stiffness and reduce its spinal motion response during manual examination and treatment that is further augmented by the force-time profile administered by the clinician. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Kinesiology 2015