Computer simulation of biomechanics of physiological processes of the cervical spine

Currently, mathematical analysis and three-dimensional modeling represent a new promising way to obtain additional information, which allows the researcher to virtually observe and model complex biomechanical phenomena. Issues of dynamic neck anatomy, as well as the biomechanical characteristics of its individual structures, are of significant practical and theoretical interest regarding many areas of medicine.
Aim: to develop a virtual dynamic model of the human neck and in order to reproduce dynamic processes using the finite element method.
Materials and methods: Biomechanics of physiological processes of the cervical spine were studied using MRI. Finite element mesh generation and contact interactions were performed using HyperMesh software. Material modeling and finite element analysis were performed using Abaqus CAE 6.14 software.
A retrospective analysis of the results of 124 high-quality MRI studies (40 men and 84 women) was conducted. The database included studies that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Statistical processing was carried out using MS Excel 2019 in the “Data Analysis” add-on. Parametric indicators were checked for normal distribution in the “descriptive statistics” function, followed by calculation of the significance of the differences in indicators with a “two-tailed Student’s test”. To assess nonparametric indicators, χ2 -Pearson was used to construct contingency tables. To study the dependence of the tg α value on the age of patients in the presence or absence of IVD protrusions, analysis of variance was used for differences in more than two groups using the one-way ANOVA method.
Results: A technique for creating a virtual dynamic neck model has been developed. The results of finite element analysis of the C3-C5 segment under axial loading were compared with in vitro data.
Conclusion: The simulation results gained using the proposed technique are in good agreement with experimental data. The generated biomechanical models make it possible to describe dynamic phenomena in the cervical spine and obtain a wide range of quantitative properties of objects.

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