Dr J. R. Meakin and Dr C. W. Smith
Degenerative changes in the intervertebral discs of the spine, although common due to natural aging, can present as severe pain and biomechanical dysfunction which requires surgical intervention. Determining the pattern of strain in the discs in vivo may allow us to elucidate the biomechanical reasons why some people experience more severe disc degeneration than others and help in developing appropriate treatment strategies and better replacement devices.
This PhD project will develop experimental and image analysis methods to determine intervertebral disc strain in vivo. Magnetic resonance and computer tomography images of homogeneous phantom and real isolated discs will be acquired before and after applying known boundary conditions. Analysis methods, based on digital image correlation and digital volume correlation, will be used to determine the pattern of strain distribution in the discs resulting from the loading. Once the methods have been developed they will be applied to image data from human intervertebral discs acquired in vivo to begin to explore the normal variation in the patterns of strain distributions in discs as the subjects change posture and support load.