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A Finite-Element Biomechanical Model for Evaluating Buttock Tissue Loads in Seated Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury

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Bioengineering Research of Chronic Wounds

Part of the book series: Studies in Mechanobiology, Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials ((SMTEB,volume 1))

Abstract

Pressure ulcer remains to be a serious problem in today’s healthcare, which has a detrimental impact on the quality of life of the wheelchair users, especially for those with spinal cord injury, and imposes a tremendous economic burden on health care. Development of effective prevention strategies and treatment modalities of pressure ulcer calls for improved understanding of soft tissue response to external loading. Initial evidences suggest that the stress in deep tissue surrounding a bony prominence may reach multiple times higher than that at the superficial skin, however, interface pressure still is the only available clinical tool to assess sitting load, which provides little to no insight to the situation in deep tissues. Moreover, experimental evaluation of the load transfer, from superficial through multiple layers of soft tissues to the load bearing bones, remains nearly impossible. Therefore, finite element models are a powerful tool to help examine biological structures and predict outcomes from potential interventions. However, to date, successful finite element models for simulating buttock tissue response in sitting are rare. In this chapter, the authors present a comprehensive description of the methodology building and validating a 3-dimensional finite element model for human buttocks with the consideration of the joint configuration and realistic boundary conditions in a sitting posture. In addition, with the validated model, sitting induced soft tissue deformation, internal pressure, and von-Mises stress were computed in a practical application evaluating a novel seating system designed to prevent pressure ulcer formation and promote healing of existing pressure ulcer. Along with the methodology of establishing and validating the buttock finite element model for sitting research, and the application example, the authors provide explicit opinions for various weaknesses usually seen in this field and suggest possible future directions for deepening our knowledge and advancing our technologies for performing successful and practical finite element simulation for buttock tissue.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences,  

    Mohsen Makhsous & Fang Lin

  2. Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation,  

    Mohsen Makhsous & Fang Lin

  3. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Mohsen Makhsous

  4. Department of Sensory Motor Performance Program, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Mohsen Makhsous & Fang Lin

Authors
  1. Mohsen Makhsous
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  2. Fang Lin
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Engineering, Dept. Biomedical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, 69978, Ramat Aviv, Israel

    Amit Gefen

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Makhsous, M., Lin, F. (2009). A Finite-Element Biomechanical Model for Evaluating Buttock Tissue Loads in Seated Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury. In: Gefen, A. (eds) Bioengineering Research of Chronic Wounds. Studies in Mechanobiology, Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials, vol 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00534-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00534-3_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-00533-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-00534-3

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