The effect of follower load on the intersegmental coupled motion characteristics of the human thoracic spine: An in vitro study using entire rib cage specimens

The mechanical coupling behaviour of the thoracic spine is still not fully understood. For the validation of numerical models of the thoracic spine, however, the coupled motions within the single spinal segments are of importance to achieve high model accuracy. In the present study, eight fresh frozen human thoracic spinal specimens (C7 –L1, mean age 54±6 years) including the intact rib cage were loaded with pure bending moments of 5Nm in flexion/extension (FE), lateral bending (LB), and axial rotation (AR) with and without a follower load of 400 N.
Source: Journal of Biomechanics - Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Source Type: research