People with cerebral palsy often rely on ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) to walk and stand, but traditional rigid designs can limit movement and comfort, especially across different daily activities. To address this problem, researchers tested a new differential and adjustable

Long hours on your feet might not seem dangerous, but prolonged standing can quietly lead to muscle fatigue, joint stiffness, and lasting discomfort – problems that affect millions of workers worldwide. Engineers explored how the body responds to different types of standing by

Even in the midst of acute psychosis, many patients are willing to use technology that tracks their health – if it’s designed with their perspectives in mind. Drawing on surveys from 83 inpatients admitted to an acute mental health unit, researchers explored how individuals

Hip and knee replacements can dramatically improve lives, but when implants fail early due to loosening or infection, the consequences are painful and costly. In a new scoping review, researchers examined the landscape of biomedical sensors that could one day turn implants into

Running efficiently depends not only on strong muscles but also on how the foot’s arch stores and releases energy with every step. Researchers set out to examine how the medial longitudinal arch contributes to energy expenditure during a 60-minute treadmill run. Using motion

Athletes’ movements are exceptionally complex, and today’s simulation models often fall short in accurately capturing the motion of the upper body during sports performance. To address this, a team of engineers and kinesiologists improved the popular Rajagopal full-body model by

When the structures in your foot collapse, every joint is affected – and understanding exactly how can make the difference between early intervention and lasting disability. Researchers used weightbearing computed tomography scans and multi-bone statistical shape modeling to

When doctors use simulations to plan treatments for cardiovascular disease, they face a major challenge: how to accurately model the blood flow in parts of the body they aren’t directly simulating. To tackle this, researchers developed a method that estimates cardiovascular

Understanding what makes the neck both stable and flexible is key to treating spinal disorders and preventing disc degeneration. A new study explored how the three main tissue regions of human cervical intervertebral discs – the nucleus pulposus (NP), annulus fibrosus (AF), and

Helmets are essential for equestrian safety, but current standards only require helmets to pass a minimum threshold – not to excel at protecting against concussion. In the largest published equestrian helmet study to date, researchers conducted 720 impact tests across 45 helmet

A one-size-fits-all approach to surgical implants may be putting some patients at risk of poor fracture repair. Scientists examined how well a commonly used pre-contoured suprapectineal plate fits the anatomy of different pelvic shapes. Using 3D computed tomography models from

Most head impacts in sports never make it into the data, and that could be distorting what we know about brain injury risk. Recognizing the limitations of incomplete datasets, researchers developed and applied novel imputation methods to estimate missing head acceleration event

As interest grows in using back-support exoskeletons for physically demanding jobs, researchers are probing how extended wear influences movement. A research team investigated how prolonged use of a passive back-support exoskeleton impacts lifting technique, walking patterns,

Sex-based differences in head impacts during law enforcement training may hold important implications for cadet safety. Researchers examined how sex differences influence head acceleration events (HAEs) during subject control training for 82 civilian law enforcement cadets.

Reconstructing shoulder bones without medical imaging could soon be a reality. To enable imaging-free bone modeling, researchers introduced a regression-based approach grounded in statistical shape modeling. They used external skin landmarks and demographic variables – such as

Many patients who need aortic valve replacement still face a difficult choice, as both mechanical and bioprosthetic implants come with serious trade-offs. The Ozaki procedure offers a promising alternative: it uses a patient’s own pericardial tissue to reconstruct the aortic

When is an aortic aneurysm truly dangerous? For decades, doctors have relied primarily on aortic diameter to determine when surgery is needed, but this method may overlook critical biomechanical factors that signal risk even in smaller aneurysms. Researchers mapped regional

Bones are constantly rebuilding, but what signals guide them to grow or break down? This question lies at the heart of bone remodeling, a process essential to skeletal health that, when disrupted – as in osteoporosis – can lead to brittle bones and serious fracture risk. To

Children born with congenital heart defects often face a lifetime of follow-up procedures, making it critical to understand what predicts long-term heart changes after surgical repair. A new study used cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging and computational fluid dynamics to

When prosthetic implants fail to bond properly with bone, patients face painful setbacks and long-term health risks. Taking aim at this problem, engineers developed and validated a simplified 1D finite element model of the Osseointegrated Prosthetic Limb (OPL) system for