Influence of morphological variations on cervical spine segmental responses from inertial loading

ABSTRACTObjectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of morphological variations in osteoligamentous lower cervical spinal segment responses under postero-anterior inertial loading.Methods: A parametric finite element model of the C5–C6 spinal segment was used to generate models. Variations in the vertebral body and facet depth (anteroposterior), posterior process length, intervertebral disc height, facet articular process height and slope, segment orientation ranging from lordotic to straight, and segment size were parameterized. These variations included male–female differences. A Latin hypercube sampling method was used to select parameter values for model generation. Forces and moments associated with the inertial loading were applied to the generated model segments. The 7 parameters were grouped as local or global depending on the number of spinal components involved in the shape variation. Four output responses representing overall segmental and soft tissue responses were...