Browsing by Author "Edwards, W. B."

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    Effect of stride length on the running biomechanics of healthy women of different statures
    (2023-07-24) Sundaramurthy, Aravind; Tong, Junfei; Subramani, Adhitya V.; Kote, Vivek; Baggaley, Michael; Edwards, W. B.; Reifman, Jaques
    Abstract Background Tibial stress fracture is a debilitating musculoskeletal injury that diminishes the physical performance of individuals who engage in high-volume running, including Service members during basic combat training (BCT) and recreational athletes. While several studies have shown that reducing stride length decreases musculoskeletal loads and the potential risk of tibial injury, we do not know whether stride-length reduction affects individuals of varying stature differently. Methods We investigated the effects of reducing the running stride length on the biomechanics of the lower extremity of young, healthy women of different statures. Using individualized musculoskeletal and finite-element models of women of short (N = 6), medium (N = 7), and tall (N = 7) statures, we computed the joint kinematics and kinetics at the lower extremity and tibial strain for each participant as they ran on a treadmill at 3.0 m/s with their preferred stride length and with a stride length reduced by 10%. Using a probabilistic model, we estimated the stress-fracture risk for running regimens representative of U.S. Army Soldiers during BCT and recreational athletes training for a marathon. Results When study participants reduced their stride length by 10%, the joint kinetics, kinematics, tibial strain, and stress-fracture risk were not significantly different among the three stature groups. Compared to the preferred stride length, a 10% reduction in stride length significantly decreased peak hip (p = 0.002) and knee (p < 0.001) flexion angles during the stance phase. In addition, it significantly decreased the peak hip adduction (p = 0.013), hip internal rotation (p = 0.004), knee extension (p = 0.012), and ankle plantar flexion (p = 0.026) moments, as well as the hip, knee, and ankle joint reaction forces (p < 0.001) and tibial strain (p < 0.001). Finally, for the simulated regimens, reducing the stride length decreased the relative risk of stress fracture by as much as 96%. Conclusions Our results show that reducing stride length by 10% decreases musculoskeletal loads, tibial strain, and stress-fracture risk, regardless of stature. We also observed large between-subject variability, which supports the development of individualized training strategies to decrease the incidence of stress fracture.
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    Effects of body size and load carriage on lower-extremity biomechanical responses in healthy women
    (2021-02-24) Unnikrishnan, Ginu; Xu, Chun; Baggaley, Michael; Tong, Junfei; Kulkarni, Sahil; Edwards, W. B.; Reifman, Jaques
    Abstract Background Musculoskeletal injuries, such as stress fractures, are the single most important medical impediment to military readiness in the U.S. Army. While multiple studies have established race- and sex-based risks associated with a stress fracture, the role of certain physical characteristics, such as body size, on stress-fracture risk is less conclusive. Methods In this study, we investigated the effects of body size and load carriage on lower-extremity joint mechanics, tibial strain, and tibial stress-fracture risk in women. Using individualized musculoskeletal-finite-element-models of 21 women of short, medium, and tall statures (n = 7 in each group), we computed the joint mechanics and tibial strains while running on a treadmill at 3.0 m/s without and with a load of 11.3 or 22.7 kg. We also estimated the stress-fracture risk using a probabilistic model of bone damage, repair, and adaptation. Results Under all load conditions, the peak plantarflexion moment for tall women was higher than those in short women (p < 0.05). However, regardless of the load condition, we did not observe differences in the strains and the stress-fracture risk between the stature groups. When compared to the no-load condition, a 22.7-kg load increased the peak hip extension and flexion moments for all stature groups (p < 0.05). However, when compared to the no-load condition, the 22.7-kg load increased the strains and the stress-fracture risk in short and medium women (p < 0.05), but not in tall women. Conclusion These results show that women of different statures adjust their gait mechanisms differently when running with external load. This study can educate the development of new strategies to help reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries in women while running with external load.
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    Femoral strain during walking predicted with muscle forces from static and dynamic optimization
    (Journal of Biomechanics, 2016-05-03) Edwards, W. B.; Miller, R.H.; Derrick, T.R.
    Mechanical strain plays an important role in skeletal health, and the ability to accurately and noninvasively quantify bone strain in vivo may be used to develop preventive measures that improve bone quality and decrease fracture risk. A non-invasive estimation of bone strain requires combined musculoskeletal - finite element modeling, for which the applied muscle forces are usually obtained from static optimization (SO) methods. In this study, we compared finite element predicted femoral strains in walking using muscle forces obtained from SO to those obtained from forward dynamics (FD) simulation. The general trends in strain distributions were similar between FD and SO derived conditions and both agreed well with previously reported in vivo strain gage measurements. On the other hand, differences in peak maximum (εmax) and minimum (εmin) principal strain magnitudes were as high as 32% between FD (εmax/εmin=945/-1271με) and SO (εmax/εmin=752/-859με). These large differences in strain magnitudes were observed during the first half of stance, where SO predicted lower gluteal muscle forces and virtually no co-contraction of the hip adductors compared to FD. The importance of these results will likely depend on the purpose/application of the modeling procedure. If the goal is to obtain a generalized strain distribution for adaptive bone remodeling algorithms, then traditional SO is likely sufficient. In cases were strain magnitudes are critical, as is the case with fracture risk assessment, bone strain estimation may benefit by including muscle activation and contractile dynamics in SO, or by using FD when practical.