Numerical analysis of gait load distribution in the human pelvis and design of a biomechanical testing device: experimental assessment of two implants for anterior fragility fractures

The current project research was conducted at the University of Luxembourg in cooperation with orthopaedic surgeons from the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg and the Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes. The main objective was to investigate the gait load distribution in the human pelvis and the influence of the stiffness of the pubic symphysis and the sacroiliac joints on this force transmission in order to numerically and experimentally assess the stability provided by two reconstruction systems for anterior fragility fractures. To begin with, the global approach consisted in combining inverse dynamics and finite element methods to investigate physiological loadings applied to the pelvis during the gait cycle. Then, an experimental test bench was designed to reproduce those gait conditions on artificial pelvises for biomechanical assessment of different systems used for fragility fractures of the pelvis.