Adult spinal deformity (ASD) is an increasingly prevalent and costly problem. Surgical correction of ASD seeks to restore sagittal balance, the ability to maintain a mechanically effective center of pressure via postural control of the spine and lower extremities while upright. We hypothesize that multifidus muscle quality is predictive of post-operative biomechanical outcomes and risk for PJK in ASD patients. 

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Principal Investigator: Dr. Jeannie Bailey
Co-Investigators: Dr. Brian Feeley, Dr. Alekos Theologis

Trainee: Karim Khattab

The aims of this project are to quickly and accurately assess upper limb function, compare between subjects and interventions, standardized protocol, normalized measure, identify early signs of complication, collect a quantitative measure of shoulder function, and quantify repeatability of measure quantify changes in function over time and between groups. This will be collected as part of standard clinical workflow.
 

Principal Investigator: Dr. Jeffrey Lotz
Co-Investigators: Dr. Robert Matthew, Dr. Gregorij Kurillo, Dr. Brian Feeley, Saul Elorza, Sandi Aung
Trainee: Francine Castillo

To mitigate biomechanical risk associated with pushing/pulling, ergonomists usually record push/pull forces and compare them to previously published guidelines using a single-axis force gauge. Our recent CDMI effort provided recommendations for straight-line pushing/pulling but was unable to provide recommendations for measuring turning forces.  Accurately measuring turning forces is vital because turning poses a higher risk for injury to the spine than straight-line pushing/pulling. 

The objective of this study is to build upon previous push/pull force measurement guidelines, by providing recommendations for force measurement during turning.

Principal Investigator: Dr. William Marras
Co-Investigator: Eric Weston 

Individuals need in-home assistance with bathing, toileting, dressing, or other activities of daily living (ADLs) for many reasons.  These include increasing frailty as one ages, loss of abilities due to chronic/debilitating disease, or when recovering from hospitalization.
 
Assistance may be provided by professional or family caregivers, but all are at risk for injury when assisting with these activities. For example, caregivers may need to support some or all of the patient’s weight, ‘catch’ the patient if s/he starts to lose balance or fall, or work bent over to reach or see an area on the patient’s body.  
 
Thus, the goal of this project is to identify ergonomics intervention opportunities to reduce overexertion injury risk factor exposures in home healthcare workers.

Principal Investigators: Dr. Carolyn Sommerich, Dr. Steven Lavender 

Accurately assessing the motion of employees in a work setting is important to ergonomists who seek to identify job tasks that may pose a risk of injury or are in need of redesign.​  More recently, inertial measurement units (IMUs), also known as wearable sensors, have shown promise in quantifying these activities.  Although many studies have tested IMU accuracy in laboratory settings, fewer have
begun to leverage data collected from these sensors to classify injury risk in the workplace.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of IMU sensors at classifying shoulder injury risk in a real work context over an extended time duration. 

Principal Investigator: Dr. William Marras 
 Co-Investigators: Jonathan S. Dufour, Alexander M. Aurand, Gregory G. Knapik, Gary Allread, Eric B. Weston

The objective of this project is to provide a biomechanical analysis of intact cervical, fused cervical and with total disc replacement (TDR) under simulated aircraft ejection.
 

Principal Investigator: Dr. Vijay Goel
Trainees: Muzammil Mumtaz, Niloufar Shekouhi, Amey Kelkar, David Dick, Manoj Kodigudla

Restoration of lumbopelvic harmony, pelvic tilt, and global sagittal balance are fundamental goals of sagittal spinal deformity correction. One powerful technique to achieve these goals is the pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO).

Principal Investigator: Dr. Joseph M. Zavatsky
Co-Investigators: Dr. Alekos Theologis, Dr. Robert McGuire, Dr. Hassan Serhan, Dr. Vijay Goel
Trainee: Niloufar Shekouhi

We propose to assess biomechanically the 3 following multi-rod techniques with varying screw types above and below a PSO: (1) in-line/recessed “satellite" rod connected to 2 poly-axial screws; (2) laterally-based “satellite” rods connected to 2 poly-axial screws via lateral connectors; (3) laterallybased “satellite” rods connected to 2 mono-axial screws via offset attachments. Our central hypothesis is that configuration #3 provides the most robust and rigid biomechancial environment.

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Principal Investigator: Dr. Alekos Theologis
Co-Investigators: Dr. Joseph Savatsky, Dr. Vijay Goel
Trainee: Niloufar Shekouhi

Need and Industrial Relevance: Healthcare costs of spinal disorders, such as lower back pain and deformity correction in all age groups, are second only to cardiac expenses. Researchers and clinicians from multidisciplinary fields are working relentlessly to improve the clinical outcomes and thus reduce healthcare costs.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Vijay Goel
 Co-Investigators: David Dick, Manoj Kodigula, Amey Kelkar, 
Trainee: Niloufar Shekouhi
 

The objective of our study is to critically explore the use of a flexible tether in the scoliosis correction system.
 

Principal Investigator: Dr. Vijay K. Goel
Co-Investigators: Manoj Kodigudla, Amey Kelkar

Trainee: Daksh Jayaswal

The objective of this project is to determine the exact relationship between spinal fusion levels and acetabular orientation.
 

Principal Investigator: Dr. Vijay Goel
Co-Investigator: Dr. Anthony S.Unger

Trainee: Muzammil Mumtaz

The objective of our study is to understand the degree of changes in pain markers, pro-and anti-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, and disc height for degenerated ex-vivo porcine discs upon DisCure treatment.
 

Principal Investigator: Dr. Eda Yildirim-Ayan
Co-Investigator: Dr. Vijay Goel

Trainees: Mohamad Kanan, Amey Kelkar

Our goal is to investigate the biomechanical behavior of several first generation and second-generation cervical TDR device designs using finite element methods. We will achieve our goals by evaluating these TDR device designs using our validated representative gender specific cervical spine finite element models.

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Principal Investigator: Dr. Vijay Goel
Trainee: TBA

This project will develop technologies based on collaborative research with Rosies Base, Inc. (parent company: Komatsuseiki Kosakusho). The target field of the technologies include the medical device field (i.e., surgical and endoscopic tools, vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty needles, orthopedic implants, etc.)