Medical engineering & physics
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Cervical spinal instability due to ligamentous injury, degenerated disc and facetectomy is a subject of great controversy. There is no analytical investigation reported on the biomechanical response of cervical spine in these respects. Parametric study on the roles of ligaments, facets, and disc nucleus of human lower cervical spine (C4-C6) was conducted for the very first time using noninvasive finite element method. ⋯ The passive FE model predicted the nonlinear force displacement response of the human cervical spine, with increasing stiffness at higher loads. It also predicted that ligaments, facets or disc nucleus are crucial to maintain the cervical spine stability, in terms of sagittal rotational movement or redistribution of load. FE method of analysis is an invaluable application that can supplement experimental research in understanding the clinical biomechanics of the human cervical spine.