Global optimization method for combined spherical-cylindrical wrapping in musculoskeletal upper limb modelling

In musculoskeletal modelling, many muscles cannot be represented as straight lines from origin to insertion because the bony and musculotendinous morphology of neighboring structures causes them to wrap. The majority of these passive structures can be adequately described as simple geometric shapes such as spheres and cylinders. Techniques for describing smooth muscle paths around multiple obstacles have been developed for modelling use. Until now obstacle-set methods have combined the path of single structures. This does not analytically define the shortest smooth path around multiple objects. When a sphere is included in a multiple-object wrapping algorithm, muscle paths around that sphere are restricted to a bundle of planes containing the sphere center. This assumed restriction can compromise the iterative process for finding the true shortest muscle path that satisfies all restrictions of a smooth path. This can cause model instability. The new method involves the determination of the shortest smooth muscle path in a spherical and cylindrical wrapping algorithm. A typical example is musculoskeletal modelling of the upper limb, where the muscle fibers have to wrap over this combination of obstacles. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.