Image Analysis of Spine and Related Mechanical Investigations

Low back pain is a spinal-related problem mainly caused by degenerative disc disease. Throughout the spine, the lumbar region is the most prone to the disease since it supports the upper torso by transmitting compressive and shearing forces to the lower body during everyday activities. The study is focused on modeling a lumbar segment of a healthy L5-S1 by utilising image processing and computer-aided engineering to translate CT scan image into meshed finite element model. This study also involved the measurement the range of motion of the lumbar region by means of an in-vivo method. The result shows that the flexion, extension and axial rotation range of motion varies by 15-18 degrees compared to the literature, which may have been caused by in-vivo factors such as fatigue, sway and other measurement variability. The in-vivo results are then applied to the proposed finite Element Model as inputs and related investigations on spine vertebrae and disc are presented. Comparatively, the in-vivo results provides similar correlation, but variations observes quantitatively because of factors such as fatigue and sway of subjects. Further analysis will be done on stresses and moments.