Investigating the mechanical behavior of the human lumbar spine model by using finite element method

Authors : Berna Seval Dogan, Mustafa Özkaya

Pages : 1164-1169

Doi:10.5505/pajes.2025.93395

View : 61 | Download : 122

Publication Date : 2025-12-15

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Understanding the mechanical behavior of the human lumbar spine is important in spinal disorders and treatment. For this reason, spinal mechanics is examined in many biomechanical studies. The aim of this study is to examine the mechanical behavior of the human lumbar spine with the finite element method and to verify it by comparing it with experimental data in the literature. In addition, by trying different models, it is aimed to determine which structure in the spine functions under which loads and to show new researchers how these processes are applied. The human L1-L5 vertebrae were used. There were two models; one had facets as a single body in each without ligaments and the second one had facets as paired bodies at opposing bones with ligaments. Each intervertebral disc included nucleus pulposus, annulus fibrosus, and two end plates. Flexion, extension, left lateral bending, and right lateral bending loads were applied to the models with 4 Nm moment. The range of motions of each spinal segment in degrees were used as the analysis output and compared to the experimental data in the literature to validate the results. According to the results, modeling the facets as a single body caused excessive stiffness, while modeling them as facet pairs at opposing bones caused excessive movement. It can be said that using a model which, has paired facet joints and ligaments, provided converged range of motion values in each L1-L5 spinal segment under flexion/extension and left/right lateral bending moments.
Keywords : Lomber omurga, biyomekanik, sonlu elemanlar metodu

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