7,559 research outputs found

    Replicating spine loading during functional and daily activities: An in vivo, in silico, in vitro research pipeline

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    This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this record. Lifestyle heavily influences intervertebral disc (IVD) loads, but measuring in vivo loads requires invasive methods, and the ability to apply these loads in vitro is limited. In vivo load data from instrumented vertebral body replacements is limited to patients that have had spinal fusion surgery, potentially resulting in different kinematics and loading patterns compared to a healthy population. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a pipeline for the non-invasive estimation of in vivo IVD loading, and the application of these loads in vitro. A full-body Opensim model was developed by adapting and combining two existing models. Kinetic data from healthy participants performing activities of daily living were used as inputs for simulations using static optimisation. After evaluating simulation results using in vivo data, the estimated six-axis physiological loads were applied to bovine tail specimens. The pipeline was then used to compare the kinematics resulting from the physiological load profiles (flexion, lateral bending, axial rotation) with a simplified pure moment protocol commonly used for in vitro studies. Comparing kinematics revealed that the in vitro physiological load protocol followed the same trends as the in silico and in vivo data. Furthermore, the physiological loads resulted in substantially different kinematics when compared to pure moment testing, particularly in flexion. Therefore, the use of the presented pipeline to estimate the complex loads of daily activities in different populations, and the application of those loads in vitro provides a novel capability to deepen our knowledge of spine biomechanics, IVD mechanobiology, and improve pre-clinical test methods.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

    Running to Your Own Beat:An Embodied Approach to Auditory Display Design

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    Personal fitness trackers represent a multi-billion-dollar industry, predicated on devices for assisting users in achieving their health goals. However, most current products only offer activity tracking and measurement of performance metrics, which do not ultimately address the need for technique related assistive feedback in a cost-effective way. Addressing this gap in the design space for assistive run training interfaces is also crucial in combating the negative effects of Forward Head Position, a condition resulting from mobile device use, with a rapid growth of incidence in the population. As such, Auditory Displays (AD) offer an innovative set of tools for creating such a device for runners. ADs present the opportunity to design interfaces which allow natural unencumbered motion, detached from the mobile or smartwatch screen, thus making them ideal for providing real-time assistive feedback for correcting head posture during running. However, issues with AD design have centred around overall usability and user-experience, therefore, in this thesis an ecological and embodied approach to AD design is presented as a vehicle for designing an assistive auditory interface for runners, which integrates seamlessly into their everyday environments

    3D Innovations in Personalized Surgery

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    Current practice involves the use of 3D surgical planning and patient-specific solutions in multiple surgical areas of expertise. Patient-specific solutions have been endorsed for several years in numerous publications due to their associated benefits around accuracy, safety, and predictability of surgical outcome. The basis of 3D surgical planning is the use of high-quality medical images (e.g., CT, MRI, or PET-scans). The translation from 3D digital planning toward surgical applications was developed hand in hand with a rise in 3D printing applications of multiple biocompatible materials. These technical aspects of medical care require engineers’ or technical physicians’ expertise for optimal safe and effective implementation in daily clinical routines.The aim and scope of this Special Issue is high-tech solutions in personalized surgery, based on 3D technology and, more specifically, bone-related surgery. Full-papers or highly innovative technical notes or (systematic) reviews that relate to innovative personalized surgery are invited. This can include optimization of imaging for 3D VSP, optimization of 3D VSP workflow and its translation toward the surgical procedure, or optimization of personalized implants or devices in relation to bone surgery

    An exploratory study evaluating the effectiveness of a data driven approach to identifying coordinative features that are associated with sprint velocity

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    Sprint performance is multifactorial in nature and is dependent on a variety of coordination and motor control features. During the sequential phases of a sprint, the athlete completes a series of spatiotemporal coordination strategies to achieve the fastest possible velocity. The overall aim of the study was to leverage wearable sensor technology and data- driven tools to objectively assess the kinematic and neuromuscular determinants of optimal sprint velocity from a large dataset of university-aged sprinters. To achieve this, we recruited participants to run three 60 m sprints as fast as possible, while being outfitted with wireless electromyography (EMG) and a full-body inertial measurement unit (IMU) suit to obtain full- body 3D kinematics. Five strides about peak sprint velocity were selected and used for inputs into a principal components analysis (PCA). Significant stepwise multivariable regression models were generated for both kinematic and EMG features identified using PCA, with the kinematic model outperforming the EMG model as the kinematic model displayed a higher R2 value. This suggests that the kinematic dataset used in this study is a better predictor of sprint performance when compared to the EMG dataset, and that both may be viable options in the development of data-driven objective sprint coaching tools

    Understanding Personal Determinants of Lifting Strategy to Inform Movement-Focused Ergonomic Interventions

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    Introduction: Lift training interventions are needed to reduce risk in jobs with non-modifiable demands, but to date have been generally ineffective. The lack of lift training effectiveness has been partially attributed to insufficient quality of content in the training programs. One way to improve the effectiveness of future lift training interventions may be to first understand what factors influence how a lifter chooses to move in the workplace (i.e., root causes). Previous research has identified that some lifters seem to consistently minimize resultant biomechanical exposures at the low back, but it is unclear why. If we can understand what personal factors influence how a lifter moves, lift training may be better targeted to address modifiable personal factors to minimize exposures during lifting. The overarching objective of this thesis was to quantify the variability in low back exposures during lifting and to further determine if variability could be explained by personal factors including ability to perceive proprioceptive information, expertise, and a range of structural (i.e., body mass and stature) and functional (i.e., strength and flexibility) factors. With this understanding, I then aimed to identify which modifiable personal factors have the greatest prospective benefit of biasing a lifter to adopt a movement strategy with lower resultant biomechanical exposures using a computational modelling approach. The impetus for this thesis is to develop critical evidence as needed to inform the development of future, more efficacious lift training interventions. Methods: A cross-sectional between-subjects experimental design was used to address the thesis objectives. A sample of 72 participants were recruited to perform a lifting protocol consisting of both job-specific and generic lifting tasks. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants with a range of experience and demographics. Ability to perceive sensory feedback was assessed using lift force and lift posture matching tests. The average and variability in resultant peak low back compression and A-P shear force, as well as kinematic features of whole-body movement strategy, during lifting were quantified as dependent variables. Consistently lower magnitudes of biomechanical exposures within a personal factor group would support that this group defines a movement objective that aims to minimize resultant exposures on the low back. Using the experimentally obtained data, a probabilistic model was then developed that predicts the range of movement strategies and corresponding biomechanical exposures that are likely given a combination of underlying personal factors. Simulations were run to determine if improvements in any of ability to perceive sensory feedback, expertise, flexibility and/or strength capacity resulted in predicted reductions of low back exposure magnitude. Simulations were also conducted across a range of non-modifiable structural factors (i.e., sex, stature, and body mass) to evaluate whether the prospective benefit of improving modifiable factors to reduce low back exposures is generalizable across a working population. Results: Ability to perceive proprioceptive information (both force- and posture-sense) was associated with lower average and variability of low back loads. This suggests that individuals with better ability to perceive proprioceptive information may be more likely to define a movement objective to consistently minimize exposures. Albeit small effect sizes were observed with a maximum of 16% of variance in low back loads explained by proprioceptive ability. Both structural and functional factors were significant predictors of average peak low back loads in lifting. However, except for females having lower variability in exposures than males, no other associations of personal factors to variability in loads was observed. These findings support that the investigated structural and functional factors can bias the range of available movement strategies to lifters, but don’t necessarily influence towards a movement objective aiming to minimize low back loading. No differences in average or variability in peak low back loads were observed across expertise groups. While this finding highlights that expertise doesn’t seem to influence resultant exposures in lifting, differences in lifting kinematics were observed across groups suggesting other movement objectives may be defined as a function of expertise. The prospective ability of reducing peak low back loads by improving modifiable personal factors was assessed using the developed probabilistic model. While improving proprioceptive ability, functional knee range of motion and strength were statistically associated with reducing low back loads, only improving functional knee range of motion was interpreted to have clinically significant effects on reducing low back loads during lifting. Conclusion: In this thesis the variance in peak low back loads during lifting that could be explained independently and inter-dependently by personal factors was investigated. These findings have implications for the development of future lift training interventions where improvements to functional knee range of motion may lead to retained lifting behaviour changes to reduce resultant peak low back loads during lifting. Secondary benefits may also come from improving proprioceptive ability and strength. Future lift training interventions can be developed to leverage these findings in practice where these results support that improvements to underlying flexibility, strength and proprioceptive ability seem to be important factors allowing individuals to adopt lower exposure lifting strategy

    An investigation into mild traumatic brain injury identification, management, and mitigation

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    Concussion is classified as a mild traumatic brain injury which can be induced by biomechanical forces such as a physical impact to the head or body, which results in a transient neurological disturbance without obvious structural brain damage. Immediate access to tools that can identify, diagnosis and manage concussion are wide ranging and can lack consistency in application. It is well documented that there are frequent incidences of concussion across amateur and professional sport such as popular contact sports like rugby union. A primary aim of this thesis was to establish the current modalities of ‘pitch side’ concussion management, identification, and diagnosis across amateur and professional sporting populations. Furthermore, the research sought to understand existing concussion management and concussion experiences by means of recording the player’s experiences and perceptions (retired professional rugby union players). These qualitative studies sought to gain insights into concussion experiences, the language used to discuss concussion and the duty of care which medical staff, coaching personnel, and club owners have towards professional rugby players in their employment. In addition, possible interventions to reduce the incidence of concussion in amateur and professional sports were investigated. These included a ‘proof of concept’ using inertial measurement units and a smartphone application, a tackle technique coaching app for amateur sports. Other research data investigating the use of neurological function data and neuromuscular fatigue in current professional rugby players as a novel means of monitoring injury risk were included in this research theme. The findings of these studies suggest that there is an established head injury assessment process for professional sports. However, in amateur sport settings, this is not the existing practice and may expose amateur players to an increased risk of post-concussion syndrome or early retirement. Many past professional rugby union players stated that they did not know the effects of cumulative repetitive head impacts. They discussed how they minimised and ignored repeated concussions due to peer pressure or pressure from coaches or their own internal pressures of maintaining a livelihood. These data suggest that players believed that strong willed medical staff, immutable to pressures from coaching staff or even athletes themselves, were essential for player welfare and that club owners have a long-term duty of care to retired professional rugby union players. However, there are anecdotal methods suggested to reduce concussion incidence. For example, neck strengthening techniques to mitigate against collision impacts. There is, no longitudinal evidence to suggest that neck strength can reduce the impacts of concussion in adult populations . Additionally, other factors such as lowering the tackle height in the professional and amateur game is currently being investigated as a mitigating factor to reduce head injury risk. The final theme of the thesis investigated possible methods to reduce injury incidence in amateur and professional athletes. The novel tackle technique platform could assist inexperienced amateur coaches on how to coach effective tackle technique to youth players. The findings from the neurological function data suggests that this may be an alternative way for coaches to assess and gather fatigue data on professional rugby union players alongside additional subjective measures and neuromuscular function data. Recently, the awareness of concussion as an injury and the recognition of concussion in many sports settings has improved. These incremental improvements have led to increased discussion regarding possible measures to mitigate the effects of concussion. There are many additional procedures to be implemented before a comprehensive concussion management is universally available, particularly in amateur and community sports. These necessary processes could be technological advances (e.g., using smart phone technology) for parents and amateur coaches to assist in the early identification of concussion or evidence-based concussion reduction strategies

    Paediatric Injury from Powered Off-Road Vehicles

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    Background Powered off-road vehicles, such as quad-bikes and two-wheeled motorcycles, are popularly used recreationally by children, and are also used in a variety of farming and agricultural contexts. However, crashes can result in serious injuries and deaths, and as such are an important public health concern for Australian children. Compared to adults, children have different riding patterns, injury causes and risk factors relating to their level of development, as well as different patterns of injury outcomes and severity. Aims This work aims to investigate paediatric quad-bike and motorcycle riding patterns and behaviours, along with risk factors, injury severity, outcomes and potential avenues for injury prevention counter-measures. The work consists of five related studies. Methods and Results The first study was a survey of paediatric off-road vehicle riders, which was undertaken to characterise patterns of use, rider behaviours, experience and attitudes. Recreational motorcycle riding was most common, with children having high rates of previous riding experience and often participating in ‘structured’ riding within organised motorsports competitions and events. There was a small proportion of ‘unstructured’ riding in the context of agriculture or on private properties. Riders generally rode frequently and used helmets and other protective gear. The second study examined a group of children admitted to a paediatric hospital as a result of injury sustained from an off-road vehicle crash. In-depth crash investigation techniques examined injury mechanisms and related them to injury outcomes, along with rider, environmental and vehicular risk factors. A variety of recurring mechanisms emerged, particularly loss-of-control events leading to impacts with the ground or vehicle. A wide range of injuries were also observed, particularly to the extremities. A case-control component of the study identified a lower rider to vehicle weight ratio as a factor associated with higher crash risk. The third and fourth studies used large, linked population-level hospital admission and mortality datasets. The first of these examined injury epidemiology and outcomes for paediatric off-road vehicle crashes across New South Wales over a 17-year time period. The outcomes for different vehicle types were compared. The findings demonstrated the large burden of injury caused by ORV crashes in terms of hospital admissions and operative interventions. Furthermore, although on an individual level, quad-bike injuries were associated with higher injury severity, the far greater number of two-wheeled off-road motorcycle crash admissions suggest that motorcycles should be an injury prevention priority. The second linked data study examined the subset of children who have multiple hospital admissions following off-road vehicle crashes. Children who re-present to hospital repeatedly are a particularly vulnerable group, prone to more serious injury, and higher overall costs to the healthcare system. ‘Recidivist’ riders were compared to non-recidivists across various demographic, vehicle and injury outcome factors, highlighting the areas in which potential recidivists may be identified or targeted for injury prevention interventions. The fifth study was a systematic review of injury prevention countermeasures delivered through clinical environments such as hospitals and Emergency Departments, centred around the concept of the ‘Teachable Moment’: that children may be more receptive or amenable to behaviour change after sustaining an injury. The strengths and weaknesses of interventions that apply this model were identified, which may inform potential interventions pertaining to off-road crashes. The review found that multi-modal approaches combining face-to-face counselling or teaching, supplemented with other forms of written or visual communication, often paired with the provision of safety equipment and accurate monitoring as the most effective means of intervention. However, injury prevention programs are often limited by short-term and largely self-reported outcome measures, so research and programs applying these findings to off-road vehicle riders should be designed with robust design methods and appropriate measures of behaviour change, knowledge gain or injury reduction. Conclusion The results of the project overall demonstrate that off-road vehicle injuries are a large and important cause of injury, disability and death for Australian children. An overarching theme of this project is to demonstrate that children who participate in off-road riding are a unique and vulnerable population. Riding patterns are largely recreational, and the resultant injuries are common, spanning the spectrum of severity. Factors associated with worse injury outcomes and recidivism are explored, which, along with the review of injury prevention countermeasures delivered in clinical settings, may help re-prioritise and target injury prevention resources and research. Ultimately the goal of this project, as with any injury research, is to try to prevent or mitigate the severity off-road crashes. The studies investigate various aspects of paediatric off-road riding and provide important foundational knowledge for researchers and clinicians to work towards real-world applications and interventions

    A Comprehensive Review of Data-Driven Co-Speech Gesture Generation

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    Gestures that accompany speech are an essential part of natural and efficient embodied human communication. The automatic generation of such co-speech gestures is a long-standing problem in computer animation and is considered an enabling technology in film, games, virtual social spaces, and for interaction with social robots. The problem is made challenging by the idiosyncratic and non-periodic nature of human co-speech gesture motion, and by the great diversity of communicative functions that gestures encompass. Gesture generation has seen surging interest recently, owing to the emergence of more and larger datasets of human gesture motion, combined with strides in deep-learning-based generative models, that benefit from the growing availability of data. This review article summarizes co-speech gesture generation research, with a particular focus on deep generative models. First, we articulate the theory describing human gesticulation and how it complements speech. Next, we briefly discuss rule-based and classical statistical gesture synthesis, before delving into deep learning approaches. We employ the choice of input modalities as an organizing principle, examining systems that generate gestures from audio, text, and non-linguistic input. We also chronicle the evolution of the related training data sets in terms of size, diversity, motion quality, and collection method. Finally, we identify key research challenges in gesture generation, including data availability and quality; producing human-like motion; grounding the gesture in the co-occurring speech in interaction with other speakers, and in the environment; performing gesture evaluation; and integration of gesture synthesis into applications. We highlight recent approaches to tackling the various key challenges, as well as the limitations of these approaches, and point toward areas of future development.Comment: Accepted for EUROGRAPHICS 202

    A query language for exploratory analysis of video-based tracking data in padel matches

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    Recent advances in sensor technologies, in particular video-based human detection, object tracking and pose estimation, have opened new possibilities for the automatic or semi-automatic per-frame annotation of sport videos. In the case of racket sports such as tennis and padel, state-of- the-art deep learning methods allow the robust detection and tracking of the players from a single video, which can be combined with ball tracking and shot recognition techniques to obtain a precise description of the play state at every frame. These data, which might include the court-space position of the players, their speeds, accelerations, shots and ball trajectories, can be exported in tabular format for further analysis. Unfortunately, the limitations of traditional table-based methods for analyzing such sport data are twofold. On the one hand, these methods cannot represent complex spatio-temporal queries in a compact, readable way, usable by sport analysts. On the other hand, traditional data visualization tools often fail to convey all the information available in the video (such as the precise body motion before, during and after the execution of a shot) and resulting plots only show a small portion of the available data. In this paper we address these two limitations by focusing on the analysis of video-based tracking data of padel matches. In particular, we propose a domain-specific query language to facilitate coaches and sport analysts to write queries in a very compact form. Additionally, we enrich the data visualization plots by linking each data item to a specific segment of the video so that analysts have full access to all the details related to the query. We demonstrate the flexibility of our system by collecting and converting into readable queries multiple tips and hypotheses on padel strategies extracted from the literature.Postprint (published version
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