An analytical model to quantify the impact of the propagation of uncertainty in knee joint angle computation.

Joint kinematics are typically described using Cardan angles or the attitude vector and its projection on the joint axes. Whichever the notation used, the uncertainties present in gait measurements affect the computed kinematics, especially for the knee joint. One notation - the attitude vector - enables the derivation of an analytical model of the propagation of uncertainty. Thus, the objective of this study was to derive this analytical model and assess the propagation of uncertainty in knee joint angle computation. Multi-session gait data acquired from one asymptomatic adult participant was used as reference data (experimental mean curve and standard deviations). Findings showed that an input uncertainty of 5° in the attitude vector and joint axes parameters matched experimental standard deviations. Taking each uncertainty independently, the cross-talk effect could result from uncertainty in the orientation of either the attitude vector (intrinsic variability) or the first joint axis (extrinsic variability). We concluded that the model successfully estimated the propagation of input uncertainties on joint angles and enabled an investigation of how that propagation occurred. The analytical model could be used to a priori estimate the standard deviations of experimental kinematics curves based on expected intrinsic and extrinsic uncertainties.

Development of a clinically adoptable joint coordinate system for the wrist.

Kinematics play a vital role in answering both clinical and research questions regarding joint biomechanics. Standardisation of kinematic approaches is important; however, the method that is currently recommended for building the joint coordinate system (JCS) to measure kinematics of the wrist is difficult to implement in vivo. In this study, a series of JCSs were examined and compared to the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) recommendations in terms of landmark digitisation repeatability, coordinate frame creation repeatability, and secondary rotations during planar motion. No differences were found between the ISB JCS and 338 of 408 of the JCSs proposed in the study, meaning that the proposed alternative can be used without affecting the measured joint angles or repeatability of the JCS. Forearm frames that used a vector between the epicondyles to define the YZ plane of the forearm were found to create JCSs that produced secondary rotations greater than that which would be clinically detectable and thus, they should be avoided when defining a JCS. The remaining 338 coordinate systems can be used interchangeably; consequently, should there be any clinical limitations that result in missing landmarks, alternative coordinate systems can be used. A joint coordinate system created using the radial styloid, ulnar styloid, medial epicondyle, lateral epicondyle, the heads of the second and fifth metacarpal, and the base of the third metacarpal is recommended for quantifying kinematics in vivo.

An automated method for defining anatomic coordinate systems in the hindfoot.

The absence of a standardized method for defining hindfoot bone coordinate systems makes it difficult to compare kinematics results from different research studies. The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and robust procedure for defining anatomical coordinate systems for the talus and calcaneus. Four methods were evaluated based upon their anatomic consistency across subjects, repeatability, and their correspondence to functional axes of rotation. The four systems consisted of: 1) interactively identified bony landmarks, 2) a principal component analysis, 3) automatically identified bony landmarks, and 4) translating the tibial coordinate system to the hindfoot bones. The four systems were evaluated on 40 tali and 40 calcanei. The functional axes of rotation were determined using dynamic biplane radiography to image the hindfoot during gait. Systems 2 and 3 were the most repeatable and consistent due to the lack of operator intervention when defining coordinate systems. None of the coordinate systems corresponded well to functional axes of rotation during gait. System 3 is recommended over System 2 because it more closely mimics established bone angles measured clinically, especially for the calcaneus. This study presents an automated method for defining anatomic coordinate systems in the talus and calcaneus that does not rely on manual placement of markers or fitting of spheres to the bone surfaces which are less reliable due to operator-dependent measurements. Using this automated method will make it easier to compare hindfoot kinematics results across research studies.

A coordinate-system-independent method for comparing joint rotational mobilities.

Three-dimensional studies of range of motion currently plot joint poses in a 'Euler space' whose axes are angles measured in the joint's three rotational degrees of freedom. Researchers then compute the volume of a pose cloud to measure rotational mobility. However, pairs of poses that are equally different from one another in orientation are not always plotted equally far apart in Euler space. This distortion causes a single joint's mobility to change when measured based on different joint coordinate systems and precludes fair comparison among joints. Here, we present two alternative spaces inspired by a 16th century map projection - cosine-corrected and sine-corrected Euler spaces - that allow coordinate-system-independent comparison of joint rotational mobility. When tested with data from a bird hip joint, cosine-corrected Euler space demonstrated a 10-fold reduction in variation among mobilities measured from three joint coordinate systems. This new quantitative framework enables previously intractable, comparative studies of articular function.

Wearable Inertial Sensors for Range of Motion Assessment.

This paper presents the design and development of wearable inertial sensors (WIS) for real-time simultaneous triplanar motion capture of the upper extremity (UE). The sensors simultaneously capture in the frontal, sagittal, and horizontal planes UE range of motion (ROM), which is critical to assess an individual's movement limitations and determine appropriate rehabilitative treatments. Off-the-shelf sensors and microcontrollers are used to develop the WIS system, which wirelessly streams real-time joint orientation for UE ROM measurement. Key developments include: 1) two novel approaches, using earth's gravity (EG approach) and magnetic field (EGM approach) as references, to correct misalignments in the orientation between the sensor and its housing to minimize measurement errors; 2) implementation of the joint coordinate system (JCS)-based method for triplanar ROM measurements for clinical use; and 3) an in-situ guided mounting technique for accurate sensor placement and alignment on human body. The results 1) compare computational time between two orientation misalignment correction approaches (EG approach = 325.05 µs and EGM approach = 92.05µs); 2) demonstrate the accuracy and repeatability of measurements from the WIS system (percent deviation of measured angle from applied angle is less than ±6.5% and percent coefficient of variation is less than 11%, indicating acceptable accuracy and repeatability, respectively); and 3) demonstrate the feasibility of using the WIS system within the JCS framework for providing anatomically-correct simultaneous triplanar ROM measurements of shoulder, elbow, and forearm movements during several upper limb exercises.

Joint coordinate system for biomechanical analysis of the sacroiliac joint.

Sacroiliac joint (SIJ) biomechanics have been described in both in vitro and in vivo studies. A standard for joint coordinate systems has been created by the International Society of Biomechanics for most of the joints in the human body. However, a standardized joint coordinate system for sacroiliac joint motion analysis is currently still lacking. This impedes the comparison across studies and hinders communication among scientists and clinicians. As SIJ motion is reported to be quite limited, a proper standardization and reproducibility of this procedure is essential for the interpretation of future biomechanical SIJ studies. This paper proposes a joint coordinate system for the analysis of sacroiliac joint motion, based on the procedure developed by Grood and Suntay, using semi-automated anatomical landmarks on 3D joint surfaces. This coordinate system offers high inter-rater reliability and aspires to a more intuitive representation of biomechanical data, as it is aligned with SIJ articular surfaces. This study aims to encourage further reflection and debate on biomechanical data representation, in order to facilitate interpretation of SIJ biomechanics and improve communication between researchers and clinicians. © 2019 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res.

Modification of the Grood and Suntay Joint Coordinate System equations for knee joint flexion.

Since its introduction, the Grood and Suntay Joint Coordinate System (JCS) has been embraced by the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) and been widely used for biomechanical reporting. There is, however, a limitation in its ability to provide correct flexion values over a wide range of clinically relevant flexion angles. This technical note addresses the limitation of the JCS equations and introduces a new set of equations to overcome this problem.

Verifying the equivalence of representations of the knee joint moment vector from a drop vertical jump task.

Biomechanics software programs, such as Visual3D, Nexus, Cortex, and OpenSim, have the capability of generating several distinct component representations for joint moments and forces from motion capture data. These representations include those for orthonormal proximal and distal coordinate systems and a non-orthogonal joint coordinate system. In this article, a method is presented to address the challenging problem of evaluating and verifying the equivalence of these representations. The method accommodates the difficulty that there are two possible sets of non-orthogonal basis vectors that can be used to express a vector in the joint coordinate system and is illuminated using motion capture data from a drop vertical jump task.

JCS-based method on coordinate transformation of attachment points between muscle and bone / 医用生物力学

Objective In order to avoid potential injuries imposed to human body,it could be feasible to use the musculoskeletal models which can be reconstructed from the cadaver color cryosection(CCC)images,computerized tomography(CT)images,magnetic resonance(MR)images or other images to analyze the dynamic properties of muscles in vivo during human movement.Mothod We reconstruct the lower limb musculoskeletal model and define the uniform ioint coordinate system(JCS)on the model and the subject.The coordinate transformation of the muscle attachment points both on the model and the subject is described in detail.Results The length and the moment arm of the biceps femoris(short head)during knee flexion are calculated and analyzed.Conclusion This method plays an important role in improving the kinematics and dynamic simulation and the muscle force estimation.

JCS-based method on coordinate transformation of attachment points between muscle and bone / 医用生物力学

Objective In order to avoid potential injuries imposed to human body,it could be feasible to use the musculoskeletal models which can be reconstructed from the cadaver color cryosection(CCC)images,computerized tomography(CT)images,magnetic resonance(MR)images or other images to analyze the dynamic properties of muscles in vivo during human movement.Mothod We reconstruct the lower limb musculoskeletal model and define the uniform ioint coordinate system(JCS)on the model and the subject.The coordinate transformation of the muscle attachment points both on the model and the subject is described in detail.Results The length and the moment arm of the biceps femoris(short head)during knee flexion are calculated and analyzed.Conclusion This method plays an important role in improving the kinematics and dynamic simulation and the muscle force estimation.

JCS-based method on coordinate transformation of attachment points between muscle and bone / 医用生物力学

Objective In order to avoid potential injuries imposed to human body,it could be feasible to use the musculoskeletal models which can be reconstructed from the cadaver color cryosection(CCC)images,computerized tomography(CT)images,magnetic resonance(MR)images or other images to analyze the dynamic properties of muscles in vivo during human movement.Mothod We reconstruct the lower limb musculoskeletal model and define the uniform ioint coordinate system(JCS)on the model and the subject.The coordinate transformation of the muscle attachment points both on the model and the subject is described in detail.Results The length and the moment arm of the biceps femoris(short head)during knee flexion are calculated and analyzed.Conclusion This method plays an important role in improving the kinematics and dynamic simulation and the muscle force estimation.

JCS-based method on coordinate transformation of attachment points between muscle and bone / 医用生物力学

Objective In order to avoid potential injuries imposed to human body, it can be feasible to use the musculoskeletal models which can be reconstructed from the cadaver color cryosection (CCC) images, computerized tomography (CT) images, magnetic resonance (MR) images or other images to analyze the dynamic properties of muscles in vivo during human movement. Methods We reconstruct the lower limb musculoskeletal model and define the uniform joint coordinate system (JCS) on the model and the subject. The coordinate transformation of the muscle attachment points both on the model and the subject is described in detail. Results The length and the moment arm of the biceps femoris (short head) during knee flexion are calculated and analyzed. Conclusion This method plays an important role in improving the kinematics and dynamic simulation and the muscle force estimation.