An investigation of the ankle contact forces in a foot with hammer toe deformity. A comparison of patient-specific approaches using finite element modeling and musculoskeletal simulation.

The internal forces and stresses in the tissue are important as they are linked to the risk of mechanical trauma and injuries. Despite their value, the internal stresses and forces cannot be directly measured in-vivo. A previously validated 3D finite element model (FEM) was constructed using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of a person with diabetes and hammer toe deformity. The foot model simulated at five different instances during the stance phase of gait. The internal stress distribution on the talus that was obtained using the FEM simulation, was used to calculate the joint reaction force at the ankle joint. In addition, the musculoskeletal model (MSM) of the participant with hammer toe foot was developed based on the gait analysis and was used to determine the muscle forces and joint reactions. The result showed that the vertical reaction forces obtained from the FEM and MSM follow a similar trend through the stance phase of gait cycle and are significantly correlated ( R=0.99). The joint reaction forces obtained through the two methods do not differ for the first 25% of the gait cycle, while the maximum difference was ∼0.7 Body weight that was observed at 50% of the stance phase. Clinical Relevance: Finite element modeling and musculoskeletal simulation can shed light on the internal forces at the ankle in pathological conditions such as hammer toe. The similarities and differences observed in the joint reaction forces calculated from the two methods can have implications in assessing the effect of clinical interventions.