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Objective: A numerical 3D model of the human trunk was developed to study the biomechanical effects of lumbar belts used to treat low back pain. Methods: This model was taken from trunk radiographies of a person and simplified so as to make a parametric study by varying morphological parameters of the patient, characteristic parameters of the lumbar belt and mechanical parameters of body and finally to determine the parameters influencing the effects of low back pain when of wearing the lumbar belt. The loading of lumbar belt is modelled by Laplace's law. These results were compared with clinical study. Results: All the results of this parametric study showed that the choice of belt is very important depending on the patient's morphology. Surprisingly, the therapeutic treatment is not influenced by the mechanical characteristics of the body structures except the mechanical properties of intervertebral discs. Discussion: The numerical model can serve as a basis for more in-depth studies concerning the analysis of efficiency of lumbar belts in low back pain. In order to study the impact of the belt's architecture, the pressure applied to the trunk modelled by Laplace's law could be improved. This model could also be used as the basis for a study of the impact of the belt over a period of wearing time. Indeed, the clinical study shows that movement has an important impact on the distribution of pressure applied by the belt.

Knee orthotic devices are widely proposed by physicians and medical practitioners for preventive or therapeutic objectives in relation with their effects, usually known as to stabilize joint or restrict ranges of motion. This study focuses on the understanding of force transfer mechanisms from the brace to the joint thanks to a Finite Element Model. A Design Of Experiments approach was used to characterize the stiffness and comfort of various braces in order to identify their mechanically influent characteristics. Results show conflicting behavior: influent parameters such as the brace size or textile stiffness improve performance in detriment of comfort. Thanks to this computational tool, novel brace designs can be tested and evaluated for an optimal mechanical efficiency of the devices and a better compliance of the patient to the treatment., Comment: appears in 10th International Symposium on Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Berlin : Allemagne (2012)

In France, 50% of the population per year is suffering from low back pain. Lumbar belt are frequently proposed as a part of the treatment of this pathology. However mechanical ways of working of this medical device is not clearly understood, but abdominal pressure is often related. So an optical method was developed in this study to measure strain in lumbar belt and trunk interface and to derive a pressure estimation. Optical method consisted of coupling fringe projection and digital image correlation (DIC). Measurement has been carried out on the right side of a manikin wearing a lumbar belt. Average strain is 0.2 and average pressure is 1 kPa. Continuation of this study will be comparison of strain and pressure in different areas of lumbar belt (left side, front and back) and comparison of different lumbar belts. Results will be used in a finite elements model to determine lumbar belt impact in intern body. In long term, this kind of study will be done on human.