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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

Subject-specific Musculoskeletal Model for Studying Bone Strain During Dynamic Motion
Published on: April 11, 2018
Moment arms and musculotendon lengths estimation for a three-dimensional lower-limb model
Luciano Luporini Menegaldo1, Agenor de Toledo Fleury, Hans Ingo Weber
1Control System Group/Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Division, São Paulo State Institute for Technological Research, P.O. Box 0141, CEP 01064-970, São Paulo-SP, Brazil. lmeneg@ipt.br
Abstract:
This paper presents a set of polynomial expressions that can be used as regression equations to estimate length and three-dimensional moment arms of 43 lower-limb musculotendon actuators. These equations allow one to find, at a low computational cost, the musculotendon geometric parameters required for numerical simulation of large musculoskeletal models. Nominal values for these biomechanical parameters were established using a public-domain musculoskeletal model of the lower limb (IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. 37 (1990) 757). To fit these nominal values, regression equations with different levels of complexity were generated, based on the number of generalized coordinates of the joints spanned by each musculotendon actuator. Least squares fitting was used to identify regression equation coefficients. The goodness of the fit and confidence intervals were assessed, and the best fitting equations selected.
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