Medical engineering & physics
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Inverse dynamic musculoskeletal human body models are commonly used to predict the spinal loads and trunk muscle forces. These models include rigid body segments, mechanical joints, active and passive structural components such as muscles, tendons and ligaments. Several studies used simple definition of lumbar spinal discs idealized as spherical joints with infinite translational stiffness. ⋯ The CoRs were predicted posteriorly, below (L3-L4) and in the disc (L4-L5). FDK model predicted lower spinal loads, ligament forces and varied distribution of global and local muscle forces. Consideration of translational stiffnesses influenced the model results and showed increased differences with lower stiffness values.