Construction and evaluation of a model for wheelchair propulsion in an individual with tetraplegia

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-13-2019

Abstract

Upper limb overuse injuries are common in manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury. Patient-specific in silico models enhance experimental biomechanical analyses by estimating in vivo shoulder muscle and joint contact forces. Current models exclude deep shoulder muscles that have important roles in wheelchair propulsion. Freely accessible patient-specific models have not been generated for persons with tetraplegia, who have a greater risk for shoulder pain and injury. The objectives of this work were to (i) construct a freely accessible, in silico, musculoskeletal model capable of generating patient-specific dynamic simulations of wheelchair propulsion and (ii) establish proof-of-concept with data obtained from an individual with tetraplegia. Constructed with OpenSim, the model features muscles excluded in existing models. Shoulder muscle forces and activations were estimated via inverse dynamics. Mean absolute error of estimated muscle activations and fine-wire electromyography (EMG) recordings was computed. Mean muscle activation for five consecutive stroke cycles demonstrated good correlation (0.15–0.17) with fine-wire EMG. These findings, comparable to other studies, suggest that the model is capable of estimating shoulder muscle forces during wheelchair propulsion. The additional muscles may provide a greater understanding of shoulder muscle contribution to wheelchair propulsion. The model may ultimately serve as a powerful clinical tool. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Identifier

85053887833 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-018-1895-z

e-ISSN

17410444

ISSN

01400118

First Page

519

Last Page

532

Issue

2

Volume

57

Grant

06-3054-SCR-E-0

Fund Ref

National Science Foundation

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