HOW MULTILEVEL BIOMECHANICAL MODELLING CAN HELP UNDERSTANDING SPORT MOVEMENT AND DESIGNING SPORT EQUIPMENT

Abstract

Analysing the complete influence of a sport equipment is highly difficult due to its multifactorial nature (covering physiology, biomechanics, motor control, and psychology). Indeed, changing the sport equipment can deeply modify the performance, in terms of absolute timing (lower running or cycling speed for example), by changing the way the musculoskeletal system is solicited or by favouring related-injuries. In this presentation, two points will be addressed. First, musculoskeletal modelling (EMGDriven model) will be used to understand how wearing a running shoe can affect the muscle and tendon behaviours during the activity. Second, a finite elements model of the shod foot driven by experimentally-estimated muscle forces will be presented. This model can be used to numerically simulate modifications of the running shoe characteristics and assess their influences over the strain and stress of the different structures of the foot. These points will cover both fundamental and applied aspects in sport sciences.