Investigation of shoulder implant designs using an experimental shoulder Simulator

Understanding of shoulder joint biomechanics is of major importance for surgery as well as for shoulder arthroplasty design. We developed an ex-vivo shoulder simulator with an innovative “teach-in” function. This allows us to investigate the behavior of the shoulder in any assigned free spatial movement without the need of any external or pre-set input. The experiment can be conducted using either a cadaver or an artificial joint. With the use of additive manufacturing (3D printing), various shoulder joint geometries can be designed and tested, enabling us to conduct parameter studies and perform biomechanical evaluation of different shoulder implant designs. Furthermore, the experimental results can also be used for comparison with multi-body in-silico simulations of the shoulder.