Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

An Investigation Of Pelvic Kinematics And Implications For Total Hip Arthroplasty, Kathryn Holland Colone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is one of the most commonly performed orthopaedic procedures, with approximately 500,000 surgeries performed annually in the United States alone. Although THA is widely regarded as highly successful, postoperative complications persist, highlighting the multifactorial nature of THA outcomes. Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of implant positioning and soft tissue mechanics, yet challenges remain in optimizing surgical decisions on a patient-specific basis. Recent advances in surgical planning tools have shifted the focus of preoperative planning toward optimizing patient-specific outcomes, highlighting the need to better understand how patient anatomy, surgical technique, and joint mechanics interact to influence …

Multidimensional Determinants Of Gait, Balance, And Softball Performance In Female Youth: Biomechanics, Resource Access, And Psychosocial Factors, Allie G. Mcauliffe

Master's Theses

Movement quality is a fundamental indicator of healthy childhood development and supports physical, emotional, psychosocial, and cognitive well-being. Movement quality is influenced by multiple biomechanical, environmental, and psychosocial factors, yet the relationships among them remain poorly understood in underrepresented populations such as female youth, particularly in softball. Previous studies have largely examined biomechanics, resource access, and psychosocial experience independently, and few have investigated how these factors interact in female youth softball players. To address this gap, this study compared gait and balance characteristics between softball (N = 34) and non-softball (N = 7) female youth, examined associations between resource access, …

Pet Mobility Project, John Shelby, Lily-Rose Jolie Bacon, Andrea Yasmine Reyes

Biomedical Engineering

The Pet Mobility Project, sponsored by Terri Smith and Jasper Jackson, is an initiative aimed at providing a custom mobility aid to a pet in the San Luis Obispo community. Amber Rappozo’s young German Shepherd, LeDoux, was selected as the project’s recipient. LeDoux suffers from hindleg weakness and, as a result, has limited mobility. This document provides a comprehensive overview of the Pet Mobility Project, detailing the motivation, background, and design approach behind the development of a LeDoux’s custom mobility aid.

Baseline Cervical Intervertebral Disc Biomechanics And Implications For Allograft Preservation, Nathan F. Buchweitz

All Dissertations

Neck pain has become an increasingly common orthopaedic healthcare issue. Evidence shows that degeneration of cervical intervertebral discs (the cartilage between the spinal vertebrae in the neck) may be associated. While disc degeneration in the lumbar spine has been extensively studied in relation to low back pain, it has received less attention in the cervical spine. Biomechanically, the cervical (neck) and lumbar (lower back) regions of the spine differ in function. Lumbar discs resist a greater burden of body weight, whereas cervical discs are adapted for mobility to aid flexible head orientation. Despite these key differences, disc injury and degeneration …

Investigation Into The Effects Of Moderate-Dose Radiation On Ligament Biomechanics, Andrew Landefeld

All Theses

Recent advances in arthritis treatment pin ionizing X-ray radiation as a useful tool in reducing joint pain and immune response. However, due to a lack of fundamental research in the effects of low-dose ionizing radiation on tendon and ligament biomechanics, the safety of these studies is rather unknown. While most related studies investigated cellular response to low dose treatment, surrounding tissue physiology is left out of the picture. Additionally, moderate range doses of irradiation are rarely studied, as most uses of radiation on tendons and ligaments are for sterilization of cadaver tendons for allografts. This study provides a preliminary investigation …

Using Ai To Predict Energy Expenditure In Lower Limb Prosthesis Users, Nelly Diaz, Siem Hadish

Posters - 2026

• Computer vision has evolved from simple image classification and object detection to analyzing human motion and biomechanics (1). • CNN’s are usually focused on image classification, but, in this case, we are not asking the model if a person is walking. • Many real-world problems require regression: Predicting a continuous number like energy expenditure of walking is a complex task. • It is essential for Prosthetists to understand energy expenditure of their prosthetic patients (2). • An amputee may use 20-30% more energy to walk. • In this project, we developed an AI model to analyze human motion and …

The Development And Validation Of A Portable Monitoring System For Real-World Prosthetic And Orthotic Performance Assessment, Emily Wyatt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Laboratory-based motion capture systems are widely used for gait analysis but are limited by high cost, infrastructure requirements, and restricted external validity. Inertial measurement units (IMUs) offer a portable and low-cost alternative for assessing gait in both controlled and real-world environments; however, their accuracy and clinical utility require validation. The purpose of this thesis was to develop and evaluate a portable monitoring system using IMUs to quantify spatiotemporal gait parameters and gait asymmetry in both laboratory and community settings, with a focus on prosthetic and orthotic users.

Phase 1 of this study evaluated the agreement between IMU-derived gait metrics and …

Design Concept For Low-Cost Management Of Early Medial Or Lateral Osteoarthritis, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Working Papers

Background: Asymmetrical joint space narrowing occurs in many cases of knee osteoarthritis (OA). The objective of the present study is to elucidate the biomechanics of lateral wedges in shoes used to widen the medial joint space in predominantly medial OA, and the biomechanics of medial wedges in shoes used to widen the lateral joint space in predominantly lateral OA. Methods: Medial or lateral shift of the center of weight bearing of the foot is largely offset by movement of the flexible hip joint, which changes the tilt angle of the femoral head in the frontal plane. The altered tilt can …

Volumetric Wear Analysis Of Polyethylene Orthopedic Liners Using Point Clouds, Gabriel Landi

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

In vivo wear of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) orthopedic bearings represents a major problem in shoulder and knee arthroplasty, with significant amounts of devices failing due to the complication itself, and even more due to associated reasons for retrieval, including aseptic loosening. However, quantification of UHMWPE wear has largely been limited to linear and in vitro volumetric analyses, obscuring the understanding of the amount of clinically relevant material loss. This study proposes new methods to measure articular, rim, and backside surfaces of retrieved shoulder and knee UHMWPE liners, centered around the coordinate measuring machine (CMM)-based collection of high density …

Capturing Sclera Anisotropy Using Direct Collagen Fiber Models: Linking Microstructure To Macroscopic Mechanical Properties, Fengting Ji, Xuehuan He, Frederick Sebastian, Mohammad R. Islam, Hannah Schilpp, Bingrui Wang, Yi Hua, Rouzbeh Amini, Ian A. Sigal

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Collagen fibers are essential to the mechanical behavior of soft tissues, including sclera. Conventional models often represent these fibers statistically, potentially missing crucial aspects of their role in tissue behavior. In this study, we expand on a direct fiber modeling approach that we recently presented based on explicitly representing the sclera long, interwoven fiber bundles. Specifically, our goal was to capture specimen-specific 3D fiber architecture and anisotropic mechanics of four ovine sclera samples (superior from Eye-1, temporal and superior from Eye-2, and temporal from Eye-3), each tested under five conditions: equi-biaxial (1:1) and four non-equi-biaxial (1:0.75, 0.75:1, 1:0.5, and 0.5:1). …

Mechanical-Medical Convergence In Heart Failure: Artificial Intelligence, Finite-Element Modeling, And 3d Printing For Diagnosis And Prognosis, Quazi Noor E. Sabrina, Quazi Md Zobaer Shah, Quazi Noor E. Sohela, Md Mahabub Hasan Mousum, Md. Moyeen Uddin Chisty, Quazi Md. Akbar Shah

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Heart failure remains a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality, yet routine clinical indices often miss the regional biomechanical disturbances that drive progression and shape treatment response. This State-of-the-Art review examines how finite-element (FE) modeling, additive manufacturing, and artificial intelligence (AI) are converging to improve the diagnosis, phenotyping, procedural planning, and prognostic assessment of heart failure (HF). Although these technologies have matured in structural heart disease and transcatheter intervention research, their greatest translational potential may lie in HF, where patient-specific ventricular remodeling, myocardial stress–strain heterogeneity, valve-ventricular coupling, and device-tissue interaction are incompletely captured by conventional clinical indices. We synthesize …

Combining Haptic Feedback With Electromyography To Study Knee Injury In Stationary Cycling, Christopher Kirby

Honors Theses

Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS) is the most prevalent overuse injury in cycling, often linked to altered neuromuscular activation patterns of the quadriceps and hamstrings. While sensory feedback has successfully modified cyclists posture, there is a critical lack of evidence-based interventions targeting the underlying muscle activation imbalances associated with chronic knee pain. This study aimed to develop and validate a novel, real-time biofeedback system that utilizes electromyography (EMG) to trigger vibrotactile cues, aiming to shift muscle onset timing earlier in the pedal stroke to mitigate PFPS-related imbalances. A closed-loop system was engineered by integrating a Delsys EMG system with a SageMotion …

Reverse (Bio)Engineering: A Machine Learning Approach To Optimize Baseball Pitcher Health And Performance, Robert C. Moore

All Dissertations

Ball tracking systems are becoming ubiquitous in sport, creating an unprecedented opportunity for big data applications to optimize human health and performance. These applications are especially common in baseball, a sport known for analyzing ball flight data to quantify performance. Analysts routinely use ball flight data to identify the attributes of top performing pitchers, finding that the best pitchers throw with optimal combinations of release speed and spin to precise locations. However, for certain pitchers, the throwing motion required to produce optimal ball flight places exceedingly high biomechanical load on the elbow, and consequently injury rates continue to rise. This …

Investigation Of A Divergent Triangle Construct For Internal Fixation Of Vertical Femoral Neck Fractures Using Experimental And Finite Element Analysis Methods, Hannah Rainey

Masters Theses

Hip fractures are a significant public health issue as they are a commonly encountered problem and have a high rate of mortality. The fracture of the femoral neck is difficult to treat due to the geometry of the proximal femur and the weight-bearing capacity that the structure must comply with. Internal fixation of the femoral neck is often accomplished with three screws inserted along the axis of the femoral neck. The optimal configuration and number of these screws is not agreed upon in the literature. The purpose of this study was to conduct a pilot investigation on the biomechanical performance …

Impactor Displacement As A Predictor Of Thoraco-Abdominal Organ Injury: Comparison Of Isolated Organ To Whole Body Tests, Jack Seifert, Jared Michael Koser, Alok Shah, Lance Frazer, Frank A. Pintar, Narayan Yoganandan, Dan Nicolella, Timothy B. Bentley, Brian D. Stemper

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

Body armor is used to protect the wearer from penetrating injuries. However, when the armor defeats the projectile, it deforms at high rates into the wearer, referred to as back face deformation (BFD). This deformation can cause a variety of superficial and internal injuries and consequently should be considered when designing body armor. However, current design standards do not adequately consider the effects of BFD, and new data are necessary to inform future design thresholds for BFD. The objective of this study was to develop blunt impact injury risk curves for in vitro thoraco-abdominal organs and determine their applicability …

A Wearable-Based Approach To Spinal Posture Tracking And Assessment, Sydney Marie Sherman, Noah Jeffery

Biomedical Engineering: Graduate Reports and Projects

This paper describes the design, manufacturing, and testing of a novel spinal posture tracking wearable device with embedded sensors. Currently on the market, most of the spinal posture tracking devices only focus on one segment of the spine and therefore do not track the entirety of human posture. The objective for this project was to create a wearable device in the form of a “smart shirt” that offers insights into posture trends throughout the day by tracking the entire spine. To begin the project, multiple designs were developed for the sensor array and wearable materials. These concepts were compared against …

Impactor Displacement As A Predictor Of Thoraco-Abdominal Organ Injury: Comparison Of Isolated Organ To Whole Body Tests., Jack Seifert, Jared Michael Koser, Alok Shah, Lance Frazer, Frank A. Pintar, Narayan Yoganandan, Dan Nicolella, Brian D. Stemper

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

Body armor is used to protect the wearer from penetrating injuries. However, when the armor defeats the projectile, it deforms at high rates into the wearer, referred to as back face deformation (BFD). This deformation can cause a variety of superficial and internal injuries and consequently should be considered when designing body armor. However, current design standards do not adequately consider the effects of BFD, and new data are necessary to inform future design thresholds for BFD. The objective of this study was to develop blunt impact injury risk curves for in vitro thoraco-abdominal organs and determine their applicability …

Advances In Bone And Orthopedics 2025 – 5th Edition, Jean-Philippe Berteau, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet, Hélène Follet, Aurélie Levillain

Publications and Research

This volume brings together selected works from the 2025 Bone and Orthopedics Interdisciplinary Symposium (BONITOS), underscoring our community’s ongoing commitment to advancing research in biomechanics, bone health, and orthopedic science. The symposium unites leading experts from around the world, fostering collaboration and the exchange of ideas across disciplines. Organized in partnership with the French-speaking Society of Biomechanics, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), the University of Lyon, the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York (CUNY), and the American Association of Physical Therapists (APTA) – Brooklyn Staten Island Chapter, BONITOS 2025 represents …

Opensim Analysis Of The Aymara Indigenous People Performing Ancestral Tasks: Exploring Trends Of Muscle Activity With Tiwanaku Skeletal Indicators, Noah M. Taylor

Master's Theses

The Tiwanaku civilization (AD 500-1100) of the Andean highlands exhibited occupational specialization in communities, with archeological evidence suggesting the existence of labor- and residential-communities, or “taskscapes”, based on an individual’s livelihood. Prior bioarcheological studies have examined Tiwanaku skeletal remains for musculoskeletal stress markers, osteoarthritis, and cross-sectional geometry to infer activity patterns. Their descendants, the Aymara Indigenous people, currently live in the same highlands and until recently lived a lifestyle like their ancestors. Over the past 20 years, the global quinoa demand has risen, thrusting the Aymara into globalization and moving them away from the traditional tasks previously performed. This study …

Advancing Tka Biomechanics: From Joint Simulator To Boundary Condition Development, Yashar Ali Behnam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses four specific aims that collectively attempted to advance the experimental and computational analysis of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) components. The first study focused on the development of a novel whole knee joint simulator capable of simultaneous tibiofemoral and patellofemoral knee loading. This simulator employs custom fixturing to facilitate dynamic, unconstrained, muscle-driven PF articulation alongside controlled TF contact mechanics. Validation against experimental measurements showed strong agreement, demonstrating the simulator's potential as a valuable tool for future TKA design and surgical technique investigations.

The second study verified implant-specific physiological boundary conditions which accurately simulate activities of daily living using …

A Continuum Mechanical Model Of The Brain During Closed Head Injury, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Working Papers

Exactly how traumatic axonal injury happens as a result of brief, intense acceleration of the head remains a mystery. The same can be said about traumatic microbleeds observed in MRI scans of people suffering concussions. This paper explores the mechanism of injury in terms of continuum biomechanics. A full-sized viscoelastic model of the human brain is developed that is subjected to impact with the rigid skull after crossing the subarachnoid space in response to brief, intense whole head acceleration, as might occur in falls or in contact sports. The brain is considered a compressible viscoelastic body of approximately uniform density, …

Traction Force Microscopy Using An Epifluorescence Microscope: Experimental Considerations And Caveats, Zaria Booth, Mazen Mezher, Rudra Patel, Venkat Maruthamuthu

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Forces exerted by cells due to their internal contractility play fundamental roles in a host of processes, including adhesion, migration, survival and differentiation. Traction force microscopy (TFM) enables the determination of forces exerted by cells or cell collectives on their environment, which is typically taken to be an extra-cellular matrix (ECM)-coated substrate. Sample preparation for TFM involves the plating of cells onto an environment embedded with fiducial markers. The imaging of these fiducial markers in the presence and absence of the cells then enables calculation of the displacement of localized regions of the environment, and, consequently, the spatial distribution of …

Investigating The Role Of Knee Damping In Reducing Joint Forces During Walking And Its Implications For Osteoarthritis Patients, Samantha Briggs

Wayne State University Theses

Arthritis is a leading cause of activity limitation and chronic pain worldwide. Particularly in cases of knee osteoarthritis, mobility impairments are largely due to pain at the arthritic joint. During normal gait, forces across the knee joint peak during the weight acceptance and early midstance phases. Hence, providing damping at the knee joint during this period of the gait cycle may be effective in decreasing the joint forces and pain experienced by osteoarthritis patients while walking. To examine the role of knee damping in reducing joint forces, an eddy current braking device was automated to provide targeted resistance at the …

Intervertebral Lateral Bending Moment Differences In The Lumbar Spine Of Baseball Pitchers Across Throwing Velocities, Justin Humenay

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction Baseball pitching imposes substantial mechanical demands on the lumbar spine, a crucial link in the kinetic chain responsible for transferring energy from the lower body to the upper extremity. While increased pitch velocity is associated with greater trunk forces the specific intervertebral loading patterns during high-velocity pitching remain unclear. This study investigates differences in lateral bending moments across lumbar spinal segments between collegiate pitchers throwing at high versus low velocities.

Methods Twenty right-handed collegiate pitchers were divided into two groups: high-velocity (n = 10, 90.3 ± 1.6 mph) and low-velocity (n = 10, 81.6 ± 1.1 mph). Motion capture …

Measuring Gait Of Total Knee Arthroplasty Patients Pre-Op And Post-Op Using A Smartphone, Celeste A. Thai

Master's Theses

Motion capture technology is a tool often used in orthopedic applications, including measuring gait dysfunctions. However, gait analysis research focused on total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients is limited, especially using motion capture systems. This may be due to a multitude of factors, such as inaccessibility to gait labs to the general public, difficulty of travel post-surgery, and overall costs of care and maintenance of motion lab equipment. New emerging novel methods use wearable devices such as smartphones and inertial measurement devices (IMUs) to perform gait assessment and are becoming favorable due to their increasingly ubiquitous nature. One such method using …

Comparing Continuum And Direct Fiber Models Of Soft Tissues: An Ocular Biomechanics Example Reveals That Continuum Models May Artificially Disrupt The Strains At Both The Tissue And Fiber Levels, Xuehuan He, Mohammad R. Islam, Fengting Ji, Bingrui Wang, Ian A. Sigal

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Collagen fibers are the main load-bearing component of soft tissues but difficult to incorporate into models. Whilst simplified homogenization models suffice for some applications, a thorough mechanistic understanding requires accurate prediction of fiber behavior, including both detailed fiber-level strains and long-distance transmission. Our goal was to compare the performance of a continuum model of the optic nerve head (ONH) built using conventional techniques with a fiber model we recently introduced which explicitly incorporates the complex 3D organization and interaction of collagen fiber bundles [1]. To ensure a fair comparison, we constructed the continuum model with identical geometrical, structural, and boundary …

Mechanically Cost-Effective Approach For Bipedal Walking In Robots Using Instantaneous Collision Angle, Smit R. Patel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Humans, as bipedal locomotors, are effective at reducing the mechanical cost of transport (CoTmech) by adopting movement strategies and gaits that minimize energy expenditure for a given distance. By using different gaits at different speeds, leveraging their long spring-like tendons and muscle elasticity which store and release energy during movement, humans reduce the mechanical effort required for locomotion. Current locomotion solutions offered in bipedal robots, based on legacy walking and running gait models, are not great at energy efficiency unless walking at very low speeds. Additionally, the control system of robots, designed to ensure stability and adaptability, requires substantial resources, …

Lumbar Spine Orientation Affects Compressive Fracture Outcome, Rachel Cutlan, Muhammaed Khokhar, Nader Shammout, Alok Shah, Lance Frazer, Narayan Yoganandan, Barry S. Shender, James Sheehy, Glenn Paskoff, Daniel Nicolella, Timothy B. Bentley, Saman Shabani, Brian D. Stemper

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

Understanding how spinal orientation affects injury outcome is essential to understand lumbar injury biomechanics associated with high-rate vertical loading.

Methods

Whole-column human lumbar spines (T12–L5) were dynamically loaded using a drop tower to simulate peak axial forces associated with high-speed aircraft ejections and helicopter crashes. Spines were allowed to maintain natural lordotic curvature for loading, resulting in a range of orientations. Pre-test X-rays were used to quantify specimen orientation at the time of loading. Primary fracture types were identified (wedge, n = 6; burst, n = 4; hyperextension, n = 4) and compared for loading parameters and lumbar orientation. …

A Pilot Study Comparing Muscle Activation And Kinematic Parameters Between Professional And Non-Professional Tennis Players, Anton S. Petrenko

Masters Theses

Tennis, a widely played sport across various age and skill groups, prompts continual skill improvement among competitive players seeking a competitive edge. This study explores two approaches for enhancing playing style: motion capture (MoCap) and surface electromyographic (sEMG) signals. The study addresses a gap in simultaneous examination of MoCap and entire dominant leg muscle activation, particularly concerning the influence of skill level and gender on various tennis strokes. To fill this void, the research records and analyzes MoCap and dominant leg sEMG data during serves and strokes on both court sides. The hypothesis posits differences in muscle activation and body …

Advances In Bone And Orthopedics 2024 Edition, Jean-Philippe Berteau, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet

Publications and Research

We are delighted to present the latest edition of ”Advances in Bone and Orthopedics,” a comprehensive compilation of pioneering research and innovative developments in the field. This volume brings together a selection of peer-reviewed abstracts from BONITOS 2024, the Fourth Season of the Bone and Orthopedics Interdisciplinary Symposium, held on May 31st, 2024, at the College of Staten Island in New York. This symposium, a hallmark event in the calendar of professionals dedicated to bone health and orthopedic excellence. The contributions within this volume reflect the breadth and depth of research presented at BONITOS 2024. These abstracts represent cutting-edge studies …