Systems identification scheme for the estimation of the linear viscoelastic properties of the intervertebral disc

In recent years, traumas due to pilot ejection, automobile accidents, etc., have generated much interest in the biomechanical modelling of the responses of the human spine to high rates of loading. The predicted responses of these models, however, are dependent on the assumed mechanical properties of the discs and vertebrae. The knowledge of these mechanical properties constitute an important aspect of any mathematical model of the spine, i.e., in both quasistatic and dynamic simulations.