EFFECTS OF LIGAMENT MODELING APPROACHES ON LOAD TRANSFER AND RANGES OF MOTION IN AN INTACT LUMBAR SPINE: A FINITE ELEMENT INVESTIGATION

Abstract

The complex biomechanics of the lumbar spine and its associated structures have been studied using finite element (FE) analysis. Several FE studies used simplified approaches to model the spinal ligaments, assuming that the significant effect of spinal ligaments is on the ranges of motion (ROM) rather than stress–strain distributions on the vertebral body. A comparison of different ligament configurations (tension-only and tension & compression) and their effects on ROM and stress–strain distribution is necessary to verify the above assumption. In this study, an FE model of the L1-L5 lumbar spine was developed and analyzed for three different cases of physiological movements (flexion, extension, and lateral bending). It was found that the spinal flexibility was almost equally constrained by both ligament configurations. The variation in ROM observed for tension-only ligament and tension & compression ligament model ranged between 0.5^∘ and 4^∘ under all loading cases. However, no considerable changes were observed in stress–strain distributions. The findings of this study indicate that assuming the impact of ligaments only in restricting the ROM is reliable and two-node tension-only or tension & compression elements are useful to model the spinal ligaments in FE studies.