A Review of Computational Musculoskeletal Analysis of Human Lower Extremities

Abstract Over the past decade, computational neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) modeling and simulation of human movement, including effects of musculoskeletal geometries, multibody dynamics, and neuromuscular excitation to produce coordinated motion of segments has grown in complexity, fidelity, capabilities, and applications. Such capability stems from improved understanding and growth on two fronts: (A) increasing level of detail in developing constrained articulated-multibody models for the NMS system; coupled with (B) high-performance numerical time-stepping schema to realize stable, accurate, and real-time simulations of the intermittent, time-varying physical power interactions with the surrounding environment. Such computational modeling and simulation can now facilitate quantitative exploration of physical power interactions of NMS systems with their environment (including other articulated devices). In this chapter, we will survey some of these advances, with a particular focus on efforts on improving understanding of physical interactions of the human lower extremities with their physical environment (eg, walking, standing, bicycling). Paralleling the two thrusts, we will first review various biomechanical models, beginning with a succession of reduced-order low degree-of-freedom articulated-multibody-systemmodels, and culminating in the detailed NMS models. Then we will discuss the application settings in which the accuracy and stability of the numerical simulations can allow realistic “what-if” scenarios and parametric/optimization studies for design, development, and validation of articulated electromechanical devices (eg, robots) for intimate human-robot interactions.