Spine and Spinal Cord Biomechanics and Rehabilitation

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Biosciences and Bioengineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 February 2023) | Viewed by 9032

Special Issue Editor

Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan
Interests: biomechanics; computer simulation; spine; spinal cord; rehabilitation; kinematic analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are inviting submissions to this Special Issue on “Spine and Spinal Cord Biomechanics and Rehabilitation”.

Spinal cord injuries are directly related to quality of life. The development of diagnostic and therapeutic methods for the spine and spinal cord is an important area for maintaining quality of life. In the field of spine and spinal cord, regeneration and alignment research has been very active in recent years, but a wide variety of other research exists as well.

In this issue, we will focus on spinal cord and spine biomechanics, computer simulation, and rehabilitation research. We believe that such research will eventually lead directly to the establishment of safe treatment methods and improvement in the quality of life of patients.

We invite submissions exploring clinical and experimental research in the fields of Spine and Spinal Cord Biomechanics and Rehabilitation.

Dr. Norihiro Nishida
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Biomechanics
  • Computer simulation
  • Spine
  • Spinal cord
  • Rehabilitation
  • Kinematic analysis

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 4653 KiB  
Article
Laminoplasty on Kyphotic Cervical Alignments Suggests Poor Surgical Outcomes: A Comparative Finite Element Analysis of Laminoplasty on Different Alignments
by Norihiro Nishida, Muzammil Mumtaz, Sudharshan Tripathi, Amey Kelkar, Justin Mendoza, Yogesh Kumaran and Vijay K. Goel
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(18), 9089; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12189089 - 09 Sep 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1060
Abstract
Cervical laminoplasty is a useful for treatment for cervical myelopathy. However, this procedure has limitations for kyphotic cervical alignments. We used the finite element (FE) analysis and investigated the biomechanical changes in intact and laminoplasty models with lordosis, straight, and kyphosis cervical alignments. [...] Read more.
Cervical laminoplasty is a useful for treatment for cervical myelopathy. However, this procedure has limitations for kyphotic cervical alignments. We used the finite element (FE) analysis and investigated the biomechanical changes in intact and laminoplasty models with lordosis, straight, and kyphosis cervical alignments. A three-dimensional FE model of the cervical spine (C2–C7) with ligaments was created from computer tomography. The model was modified with the following cobb angles (a) intact–lordotic model (intact–L; C2–C7 angle: −10°), (b) intact–straight model (intact–S; C2–C7 angle: 0°), and (c) intact–kyphotic model (intact–K; C2–C7 angle: 10°). The C3–C6 laminoplasty was conducted on the three intact models, represented by the laminoplasty–lordosis model (LM–L), laminoplasty–straight model (LM–S), and laminoplasty–kyphosis model (LM–K), respectively. Pure moment with compressive follower load of 100 N to represent the weight of the head/cranium and cervical muscle stabilization was applied to these models and the range of motion (ROM), annular stress, nucleus stress and facet forces were analyzed. ROM of intact–K and LM–K increased when compared to the other models. The LM–K had the highest mobility with 324% increase in ROM observed under extension, compared to LM–L. In addition, the annular stresses and nucleus stresses in intact–K and LM–K were higher compared to the other models. The maximum increase in annular stresses was about 309% in LM–K compared to the LM–L, observed at the C3–C4 segment. However, the facet contact forces were lower in the intact–K and LM–K, compared to the other models. Cases with cervical kyphosis alignment are at a disadvantage compared to cases with lordosis or straight alignment and should be treated with caution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spine and Spinal Cord Biomechanics and Rehabilitation)
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10 pages, 1486 KiB  
Article
Chronological Evaluation of Gait Ability and Posture Balance after Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery
by Tomoyoshi Sakaguchi, Masato Tanaka, Hardik Suthar, Yoshihiro Fujiwara, Koji Uotani, Shinya Arataki, Taro Yamauchi, Atsushi Sugyo, Kazuhiko Takamatsu, Yosuke Yasuda, Masami Nakagawa and Nana Takahashi
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(9), 4285; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12094285 - 24 Apr 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1522
Abstract
Adult spinal deformity (ASD) is highly prevalent in persons older than 65 years, affecting more than 30% of the total population. There are many important reports that describe excellent postoperative results for ASD surgery. However, there is no report that describes a chronological [...] Read more.
Adult spinal deformity (ASD) is highly prevalent in persons older than 65 years, affecting more than 30% of the total population. There are many important reports that describe excellent postoperative results for ASD surgery. However, there is no report that describes a chronological evaluation of gait ability and spinal balance after ASD surgery. The present prospective study aimed to determine the recovery time of gait and spinal balance ability after adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery. Patients with ASD (n = 25: mean age, 73.0 years) who underwent corrective surgery and preoperative and postoperative gait and spinal balance ability evaluation. Spinal radiographs and gait analysis data (static balance; single-leg standing, dynamic balance; time-up and go test, gait ability; 10 m walk velocity) were acquired preoperatively, 1 month, 6 months, and 12 months after surgery. The radiographic parameters of the spine and pelvis (lumbar lordosis; LL, pelvic tilt; PT, sagittal vertical axis; SVA, pelvic incidence; PI) were measured. The mean postoperative SVA, LL, PT, and PI-LL became 30.0 mm, 50.1 degrees, 14.1 degrees, and 0.35 degrees, respectively. Preoperatively, all spinal balance and gait ability were worse than the normal threshold (one-leg standing; 14.2 s vs. 15.0 s, time-up and go test; 13.9 s vs. 13.5 s, 10-m walk speed; 0.91 m/s vs. 1.00 m/s). At 12 months after surgery, all spinal balance and gait ability became normal or improved (single-leg standing; 14.7 s, time-up and go test; 11.0 s, 10-m walk speed; 1.09 m/s). The ODI at one-year follow-up improved from 46.8 ± 12.6% to 27.8 ± 18.1%. In conclusion, gait and spinal balance analysis revealed that ASD patients could not recover gait and spinal balance ability one month after surgery. At 12 months after surgery, gait ability and dynamic spinal balance became better than preoperative levels. However, the static spinal balance was at the same level as that of preoperative status. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spine and Spinal Cord Biomechanics and Rehabilitation)
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21 pages, 4187 KiB  
Article
The CatWalk XT® Gait Analysis Is Closely Correlated with Tissue Damage after Cervical Spinal Cord Injury in Rats
by Guoli Zheng, Alexander Younsi, Moritz Scherer, Lennart Riemann, Johannes Walter, Thomas Skutella, Andreas Unterberg and Klaus Zweckberger
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 4097; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11094097 - 30 Apr 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5199
Abstract
Objective and consistent assessment of locomotion recovery remains challenging in rodent spinal cord injury (SCI). We, therefore, studied the validity and relevance of the CatWalk XT® gait analysis as a tool for assessing functional outcome in a clinically relevant cervical SCI model [...] Read more.
Objective and consistent assessment of locomotion recovery remains challenging in rodent spinal cord injury (SCI). We, therefore, studied the validity and relevance of the CatWalk XT® gait analysis as a tool for assessing functional outcome in a clinically relevant cervical SCI model in rats. In total, 20 Wistar rats were randomly assigned to either a C6 clip compression/contusion SCI or a sham laminectomy. Locomotion recovery was assessed weekly using the CatWalk XT® gait analysis and the BBB open field score. Six weeks after SCI, the percentage of preserved spinal cord tissue was measured by glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining. Statistical analyses were performed to assess the correlation of the BBB and the percentage of preserved tissue with 30 different CatWalk XT® parameters. SCI caused a bilateral and significant functional impairment in all studied CatWalk XT® parameters. Similar to the BBB, a significant spontaneous recovery could be observed in most of the CatWalk XT® parameters in the following weeks. Correlation between the hindlimb CatWalk XT® parameters and the BBB was good (53% of r values > 0.6) while the correlation between the forelimb and the hindlimb CatWalk XT® parameters and the percentage of preserved tissue was even stronger (83% of r values > 0.6). The CatWalk XT® gait analysis is closely correlated with tissue damage after cervical contusion/compression SCI and can be used as an objective and consistent tool for assessing locomotion recovery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spine and Spinal Cord Biomechanics and Rehabilitation)
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