General

The construction of biomechanical models suitable for analysis and prediction of human motion requires contributions from many fields of engineering. In this setting, several issues are still to be investigated before such models can reach the status of medical applications, which is the main target of the intended worldwide research. Such issues include formulations able to describe the systems with different levels of detail, equipment used for the kinematic and kinetic data acquisition, methodologies for data processing, fast analysis eventually based on optimization algorithms, etc. It is of utmost relevance for the biomechanics of the human motion that the physiological data used to build models, including anatomical joints, muscles, soft and hard tissues, contact description, merit functions for motion activities, etc., can be validated on a subject-specific level in order to be able to generate realistic results.

Scope

The colloquium will address scientific topics that contribute to mechanical and physiological correct modelling and analysis of biomechanical models for human body motion. The data acquisition methods and procedures and their merits and shortcomings in face of the models used and type of analysis required will be addressed. The specifications for the construction and use of reliable biomechanical models, the specific modelling needs for anatomical joints, muscles and soft tissues, the description of the internal and external contact between anatomical segments or with the environment are some of the issues focused inthe colloquium. The analysis of internal forces and muscle forces in the human body models, the muscle mechanics, the solution of the redundant muscle force sharing problem and the quantification of motion tasks objective functions and mechanical and physiological constraints will be discussed. Finally, the suitability of the numerical methods used for each type of analysis or the use of the biomechanical motion analysis in clinical, training, physical rehabilitation of equipment development constitute other topics within the scientific scope of the colloquium.