Objective: The quantification of inter-segmental spine joint reaction forces during common workplace physical demands.
Background: Many spine reaction force models have focused on the L5/S1 or L4/L5 joints to quantify the vertebral joint reaction forces. However, the L5/S1 or L4/L5 approach neglects most of the intervertebral joints.
Methods: The current study presents a clinically applicable and noninvasive model which calculates the spinal joint reaction forces at six different regions of the spine. Subjects completed four ambulatory activities of daily living: level walking, obstacle crossing, stair ascent, and stair descent.
Results: Peak joint spinal reaction forces were compared between tasks and spine regions. Differences existed in the bodyweight normalized vertical joint reaction forces where the walking (8.05±3.19N/kg) task had significantly smaller peak reaction forces than the stair descent (12.12±1.32N/kg) agreeing with lower extremity data comparing walking and stair descent tasks.
Conclusion: This method appears to be effective in estimating the joint reaction forces using a segmental spine model. The results suggesting the main effect of peak reactions forces in the segmental spine can be influenced by task.
Keywords: Biomechanical models; Biomechanics; Gait; Kinetics; Spine.