Numerical simulations are playing an increasingly important role in solving complex engineering problems, and have the potential to revolutionize medical decision making and treatment design. Musculoskeletal conditions cost the United States economy more than $849 billion per year (7.7% of the USA’s GDP) and place great demands on the healthcare system [1]. Simulations enable engineers and clin...

The basis of human motor skills and cognitive abilities is acquired during its infancy. The mechanism of the development, however, is as yet a big mystery. Our goal is to clarify the role of embodiment, especially of the musculoskeletal system, in the early stage of the development through robot experiments in the real world. In this paper, we describe the design concept of infant-sized musculo...

In situ, cells of the musculoskeletal system reside within complex and often interconnected 3-D environments. Key to better understanding how 3-D tissue and cellular environments regulate musculoskeletal physiology, homeostasis, and health is the use of robust methodologies for directly visualizing cell-cell and cell-matrix architecture in situ. However, the use of standard optical imaging tech...

Impairment of the human neuromusculoskeletal system can lead to significant mobility limitations and decreased quality of life. Computational models that accurately represent the musculoskeletal systems of individual patients could be used to explore different treatment options and optimize clinical outcome. The most significant barrier to model-based treatment design is validation of model-bas...

In 1973, 502 employees in three metal industry plants, stratified by age, sex, and occupational class, were examined for physical workload by interview and observation at the workplace and for musculoskeletal disorders by questionnaire, interview, and clinical examination. Five years later, 88% of the sample were re-examined for their musculoskeletal status. The work of the blue collar groups w...

Human-inspired musculoskeletal design of bipedal robots o ers great potential towards enhanced dynamic and energy-e cient locomotion but imposes also major challenges on their control. In this paper we present an analytical model-based controller that takes into account the system's complex musculoskeletal actuation dynamics in order to fully exploit the intrinsic dynamics. The e ectiveness of ...

Diabetes may affect the musculoskeletal system in a variety of ways. The metabolic perturbations in diabetes (including glycosylation of proteins; microvascular abnormalities with damage to blood vessels and nerves; and collagen accumulation in skin and periarticular structures) result in changes in the connective tissue. Musculoskeletal complications are most commonly seen in patients with a l...

In recent years, diagnostic ultrasound of the musculoskeletal system (MSUS) has become almost inevitable in everyday clinical practice in rheumatology. Due to the efforts of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), the use of MSUS has significantly increased in Europe. Unfortunately, there are still certain open issues related to MSUS, primarily regarding different ways of interpretation...

The aim of this research project was to determine the extent to which neck pain is present in violin/viola players and to investigate if fine motor control and dexterity are influenced by dysfunctions as such. This is important to know as impairments in dexterity are expected to have an impact on motor control in violin/viola playing and contribute to a decrease in performance excellence. Playi...

Ultrasound is the most rapidly developing technique in musculoskeletal imaging. Continuing technological advances have broadened its application, such that it may now replace MR imaging in many specific clinical settings. The main drawbacks of musculoskeletal ultrasound remain a strong operator dependence and the lack of standardized scanning protocols. To overcome this limitation, the European...