Simulating Pressure Distribution on Ankle Cartilage

[jaeho]

Hello FEBio team,

I am a complete novice in the area of finite element analysis and FEBio. I am currently trying to learn some of the related theories and workflows for my upcoming research project. I would greatly appreciate it if you could answer my question.

I have created meshed structures of the foot and ankle complex for my patients from MRI images using ITK-SNAP software. And I have estimated tri-axial ankle joint contact force data for the same patients, derived from musculoskeletal modeling work (OpenSim). The joint contact force is a focal force that applies to the joint center. I also have data on ankle joint excursion and moments during walking, which were obtained during the process of calculating the ankle joint contact forces. Not sure if I also need ankle joint moment for input though.

My question is about the feasibility of simulating the change of pressure distribution on the ankle joint cartilage (specifically, the talar dome) during the stance phase of walking in FEBio, by inputting both the ankle joint excursion and the joint contact forces. Is this something that can be realistically achieved with FEBio?

Thanks,
Jaeho

[maas]

Hi Jaeho,

Since you are new to FEBio, I would like to first point you to some learning material that you may find useful. All our learning material is available from the FEBio Knowledgebase. You'll find here tutorials, webinars, case studies, and more. A good place to start might be the Introduction to FEBio Studio webinar.

Regarding the feasibility, FEBio was designed with questions like this in mind, so it should have all the features you need to attack this problem. It might also be helpful to dig through the literature a bit to see how others have tried to model joints with FEBio (or any other FE software for that matter). We try to keep track of journal articles that use FEBio on this website. There are a few that reference ankles specifically, so they might be worth a closer look.

I hope this will help you get started. Best of luck and please don't hesitate if you have any further questions.

Best,

Steve

[jaeho]

Hi Steve,

Thank you very much for the helpful resources and advice!

Jaeho