Musculoskeletal Health & Performance
Occupational Injury Prevention
Occupational Injury Prevention
Computer Model of Knee
Funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and working in parternship with Richard Debski (Co-Principal Investigator), the goal of this work was to help reduce knee injuries during kneeling and squatting work. Knee injuries are believed to be a significant problem in mining. This is particularly true when the work is performed in a kneeling posture. The development of a knee model for evaluation of injury potential in kneeling postures is important to reducing injuries. The specific aim of this work was to validate a computerized biomechanical model of the knee that was developed to prevent knee injury and to determine the internal stresses in the knee from externally applied forces and moments similar to those found during the postures analyzed in kneeling and squatting work environments. The combined experimental and computational validation methodology enabled study of the stresses in the soft tissue at the knee in response to various loading conditions.
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