Estimativa das forças exercidas pelos segmentos musculares utilizando diferentes restrições

Resumo

A great number of musculoskeletal models have been developed over the last few decades, allowing
non-invasive prediction of parameters that cannot be measured in vivo, such as individual muscle forces and joint
reaction forces. Estimation of these parameters can contribute to improved diagnosis of pathologies and
development of treatment techniques. On computational models it is not always possible to account all the
variables that influence the force generation of a muscle and simplifications are made, such as the representation
of the muscles as bundles of frictionless, massless and elastic cables. The objective of this study is to analyze how
a constraint on the force amplitude generated by muscle segments influence the muscle force estimation and the
joint reaction force of the glenohumeral joint. For this purpose, a previously developed shoulder model was used,
and two cases were studied: with and without constraints. Results show that the joint reaction force is greater on
the model with constraints and that there are differences between the forces exerted by the segments of the same
muscle group when the constraint is removed. The presence of constraints on models similar to the one used is
necessary to simulate an adequate muscle physiology, however, studies are still necessary to define how to apply
these constraints.