Significance of Mathematical Modeling

Abstract

Biomechanical analysis of the function of the human body can allow the acquisition of information leading to the external loads and the displacement of the segments of the body during various functions. In fact, a considerable volume of data exists relating to walking in a straight line at uniform speed on a level surface. The questions of why the human person walks in the way he does is one which has exercised those formulating mathematical models and, although there is a large volume of experimental data, the mathematical models have found great difficulty in predicting this. If they cannot predict what has already been measured, they cannot predict what has not been measured, which is the principal use of this kind of model. If these basic parameters can be modelled, then the modelling can extend to the derived quantities which are obtainable from the experimental measurements, namely, the load actions transmitted between body segments, or intersegmental loading. This terminology of intersegmental loading is deliberately utilized to indicate the resultant loads transmitted, for instance, between the thigh and the shank rather than the frequently used but confusing terminology “knee force and moment”. The term “knee joint force” is generally reserved for the loading transmitted at the articulating surfaces of the knee and not for the resultant transmitted between the calf and the thigh.