Biomechanics of the wrist

The complex structure of the hand is highly differentiated and represents one of the most complex joint systems of the human body and the hand plays also an important role in non-verbal communication. The spectrum of today´s hand injuries ranges from minor damage up to complex trauma characterized by loss of several physiological functions and an extensive course of treatment that places an enormous economic burden. The therapeutic reestablishment of the equilibrium between maximum stress and the actual joint load is essential for a lifelong restoration of the physiological joint function.

As part of a START-project in cooperation with the Department of Plastic Surgery, Hand and Burns Surgery at the University Clinic Aachen, a new research study proposes to investigate the motion behavior of the wrist bones. For this purpose, a magnetic tracking system is implanted directly onto each wrist bone. Resulting data are subsequently exported to a Multi-Body Simulation (MBS) for kinematic and dynamic analysis of the motion behavior of the wrist bones. The focus of this project is to assess the integration of a MBS approach into the clinical workflow in the context of a biomechanical model-based therapy planning.