Sharif Digital Repository

Neck fracture caused by impacts on the head and neck during road accidents annually imposes a great cost to the people hospitals and the economy of country. Most of these accidents, regardless of cartilaginous injury causes sudden pressure to the spinal cord so it seems necessary to understand the biomechanical response of the neck and the mechanism of injury to reduce costs. Many computational models related to the neck injury have been developed recently. The aim of this project is to investigate the effect of frontal and rear impacts to the head and neck during road accidents. There are many researches have used elastic property for tissues but a little portion of research in this field... 

Obesity is a worldwide growing health challenge affecting ~30% of the world's population. Increased rate of disc degeneration and herniation, low back pain and surgery has been reported in obese individuals. Although obesity-related low back diseases have multifactorial etiology, presumably greater mechanical loads on the spine of heavier individuals during their daily activities may be considered as a risk factor. Likely larger trunk muscle sizes, disc sizes and thus passive stiffness in heavier individuals may however partly or fully offset the effect of their additional body weight on the spinal loads. In absence of in vivo approaches, the present study aims to construct subject-specific... 

This thesis is about multidisciplinary design optimization of MRI ¬controlled robots with a nonlinear model approach in the cardiovascular system and simulates its behavior to reach cancer cells. Such robots, designed to perform medical procedures with minimal side effects to the patient, include a set of ferromagnetic nanoparticles attached to the polymer and disposable drugs such as cancer drugs.The disciplines considered in this issue include structure, hydrodynamics, propulsion, controllability, and trajectory. The proposed model in this study, in addition to the main forces acting on the robot such as magnetic force, hydrodynamics, and apparent weight, also examines other forces due to... 

The human brain is the most sensitive and important human organ and surgery must be done with high precision and without risk. During surgery, brain tissue deform continuously due to gravity, out of the cerebrospinal fluid and the changing pressure of the cerebrospinal fluid and the surgical maneuvers. Because the surgeon has no direct view on brain internal, the ways to solve this problem is to pay attention. This method makes it possible to the surgeon see in the brain and the brain tissue deformation. This thesis method is based on biomechanical modeling. After forming finite element model from the pre-operative MRI, brain surface and volume datasets during surgery as a load, apply to the... 

Quantitative motion quality evaluation has been always of much significance for CVA patients, especially the HCP ones. The purpose of the present study is to introduce and analyze the efficiency of a novel index, namely “Consumed Energy Index”, for evaluating the quality of the motions performed by HCP patients. For this purpose, Firstly, a Musculo-Skeletal model of the human arm was provided on Matlab and OpenSim softwares, with four DoFs: three DoFs at shoulder and one DoF at elbow joint as well as eight muscles. The muscles are in pairs of flexor-extensor at each DoF. The model is capable of receiving Cartesian trajectories for joints and solving inverse kinematics and dynamics to obtain... 

Regaining biomechanical function, comfort and quality of every-day life is a prime consideration when designing prosthetic devices for amputees. The magnetorheological (MR) prosthetic knee, which is the subject of this study, is an example of such a device. The study presents a comprehensive and a combined MR device design and MR fluid design approach, aiming to advance the MR prosthetic knee. First, this study focuses on developing a new configuration on magnetorheological (MR) brake damper as prosthetic knee. The new configuration is a rotary damper using MR fluid with a single rotary disc will act as a brake while MR fluid is activated by magnetic field in different walking gait. The main... 

BASHTI is a new implant-less ACL reconstruction surgery which has recently been considered for its advantages. This study aimed to investigate the effects of tendon and cannulated drill bit diameter on the BASHTI fixation strength and core bone engaged length (CBEL) in an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. It is believed that CBEL may affect both bone healing process and fixation strength in this technique. Bovine digital tendons and Sawbones blocks were used to mimic the ACL reconstruction. Tendons were sized to 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 mm and the hole size for the 6-9 mm tendons was set to 10 mm while for the 10 mm tendon was set to 12 mm. Mechanical strength of the specimens was... 

The 1991 NIOSH Lifting Equation (NLE) is widely used to assess risk of injury to the spine by providing estimates of the recommended weight limit (RWL) in hands. The present study uses two biomechanical models of the spine to verify whether the RWL generates L5-S1 loads within the limits (e.g., 3400 N for compression recommended by NIOSH and 1000 N for shear recommended in some studies).Severallifting activities are simulated here to evaluate the RWL by the NLE and the L5-S1 loads by the models. In lifting activities involving moderate to large forward trunk flexion, the estimated RWL generates L5-S1 spine loads exceeding the recommended limits. The NIOSH vertical multiplier is the likely... 

According to epidemiological studies, low back pain is the most prevalent musculoskeletal disease thus indicating the important role of biomechanical engineers to manage risk of injury. Different quantitative (i.e., biomechanical models) and qualitative (empirical) assessment tools are used to evaluate risk of musculoskeletal injuries. The present study uses various quantitative and qualitative risk assessment tools to investigate the risk of injury among workers in Iran Khodro Automaker company (IKCO) assembly hall No. 3 (Pars Peugeot car assembly). Moreover, different engineering and administrative interventions are suggested to manage risk of musculoskeletal injuries when needed. The... 

Low back pain is one of the musculoskeletal diseases which is an important issue for general health of society in both quality of life and costs. Most of the clinical instructions employ exercise as a clinical treatment in order to cure chronic low back pain. General and core stability exercises are of common prevalence, however, there are disputes about the effectiveness of these exercises in the literature. The aim of this study is to answer the question whether stabilizer exercise can significantly alter the stability of vertebral column in comparison with general exercises. Hence, experiments have been designed and conducted. The participants have been divided to two group. Within six... 

In Former research we determinate elastic response of Brazilian Test of transversely Isotropic material . In Bio-mechanic science surveying mechanical properties and modeling biological organ such as bone , tooth and bio-material such as titanium, zirconium with application in joint replacement is very important . One of method to determine properties of bio-material which mostly has transversely Isotropic behavior is Brazilian Test. Also most rocks has transversely Isotropic behavior, so choosing efficient test is so important. In current issue , load apply in limited area and it is also considered friction in area of jaw loading area .By use of displacement potential function ... 

80% of people in all over the world, experience Low Back Pain (LBP) once in their lives. LBP leads to dysfunction of spine. About 25% of LBP relates to the intervertebral disks which in the critical cases, a Posterior Lumbar Surgery (PLS) on the one or more lumbar disks should be done. Due to the some procedure such as retracting, cutting or denervation of muscles, PLS can hurt trunk muscles and spine. Thus, investigation of LBP and postoperative complications of PLS can help us in recognition of causes of LBP and PLS complications and modification of PLS approaches. The objective of this research was investigation of effects of LBP and PLS on the biomechanical function of spine. Pattern of... 

Parkinson's disease is the most common progressive neurological disorder after Alzheimer, which is associated with motor disabilities. One of the most effective ways to improve patient’s condition with this disease, is rehabilitation.Assessment of the patient during rehabilitation is very important in order to give a better understanding of patient's status to the specialist, but qualitative assessment methods in traditional rehabilitation are ineffective in fast and accurate evaluation of the patient's condition; and because of their need for patient’s attendance in clinic, they will incur huge medical costs. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to present a quantitative method to... 

Heart failure is one of the leading causes of death around the world and diastolic dysfunction is the main culprit behind about 30 percent of them. End-diastolic pressure-volume relationship is one of the most important indices of ventricles diastolic function, however invasive nature of assessment, has hindered its use in clinical applications. Despite the advances in computational modeling and bio-mechanical simulations, computational cost of these procedures often renders the computational methods unsuitable for clinical implications. Machine learning methods are usually the proper substitute in such cases. However, this method requires a large set of pre-calculated data for training,... 

A single-degree-of-freedom model is considered for flexible exercise bars based on the lumped-element approach. By considering the side segment of a flexible exercise bar as a cantilever beam with an equivalent mass at the free end, its free-vibration response and forced one under excitation of the grip of the flexible bar is written parametrically. Some experiments are performed on a specific flexible bar to obtain numerical values for the parameters in the model to have it quantitatively known. In the next step, simulation of the model results in the response of the flexible bar under a considered excitation. The response is imported into a multi-segment musculoskeletal software, AnyBody,... 

Foot related problems or diseases such as plan foot pain, diabetic foot, arthritic foot, pathological flatfoot, ankle sprain, bone fracture or other sports related injuries have been costing a significant amount of medical expenditure. Abnormal loading patterns and high pressure on the foot as well as improper or ill-fitting footwear are thought to be one major mechanical cause of foot problems. Most ankle sprains respond favorably to nonsurgical treatment, such as those offered by physical therapists, doctors of chiropractic, and rehabilitation specialists. A comprehensive history and examination aid in diagnosing the severity and type of ankle sprain. Based on the diagnosis and an... 

One of the most important parts of the human’s body is spine. Its anatomy is very complex and has many degrees off freedom. Many kinds of diseases might occur for this part. One of the ways of treatment for this part is surgery that it has different types. In the past decades the surgeries have been done very simple without the help of computers or robots. In other words the surgeon did the surgery with no use of lateral tools. For this reason the error in those surgeries was high. Doing a surgery on the spine level needs a special attention. As the technology improved very much in the last 2 decades the amount of errors has been reduced and various kinds of techniques came in the scene to... 

Subdural hemorrhage (SDH) is one of the most common traumatic brain injuries. The mortality rate of SDH is over 30 percent. In addition, patients require to visit hospital for treatment and further healthcare. According to the costs of treatment and frequency of injuries, prevention of SDH is essential. 3D-Finite element modeling of human head is an appropriate tool for evaluation of injury risk and setting up a prevention tolerance criteria. The aim of this study is to create a 3D finite element model of human head with special consideration of vessels. Vessels are modeled by truss elements at current finite element models of human head; however, geometry of vessels is regarded as simple... 

Most elderly and physically disabled people suffer from lack of functionality and dexterity in their elbow or wrist. These disabilities are due to the damages mostly caused by sport surgery, spinal surgery, or stroke. Therefore, design of an assistive exoskeleton robot for upper limb movements seems necessary. The purpose of this study is to design, fabricate and deliver a control algorithm for an assistive wearable robot. The robot has five degrees of freedom in order to help the flexion/extension and abduction/adduction shoulder. Dynamic and kinematic model of elbow, forearm, and wrist is developed to determine the amounts of torques which are required in the joint actuators mounted on the... 

Nowadays, Eye injuries caused by blunt impacts are considered among the major causes of blindness and vision problems; therefore, studying the existence of possible damages can be quite useful and effective. One of the quickest and most suitable methods in identifying damage parameters is finite-element modeling of the human eye. In this regard, in the current study, first a geometrical design was created by incorporating CT-Scan images of the eye into Mimics and later Solid works software. Afterwards, the most suitable mechanical properties for the constituents of the eye were extracted from the literature. The mechanical properties of vitreous and Sclera were obtained by experimental...