Development and Validation of a Computational Musculoskeletal Model of the Cat Hind Limb

Abstract

The accurate prediction of individual muscle forces is a active area of Research in biomechanics. Theoretical calculation of muscle forces depends on solving the redundancy problem. Redundancy arises because the number of muscles which are active to realization of movement exceed the number of degrees of freedom of musculoskeletal model. The most preferred method to solving this problem is static optimization of musculoskeletal system. In this study, we developed a musculoskeletal model of the cat hind limb in Opensim and muscle forces were predicted using the static optimization toolbox of Opensim for a wide range of locomotor conditions. The muscle forces calculated using this model were compared with experimental muscle forces. It was observed that theoretical muscle forces were proximity to the experimental data. Taking into account these results, it has been observed that converging the experimental muscle forces can be achieved with musculoskeletal system models which will be developed by using Opensim and thus the analysis of deciding processes of the motor control mechanism of the body can be made more effectively.