Lumbar Spine Dynamic During High Heeled Gait: Musculoskeletal Modeling Contribution

Postural changes, related to increased heel height and its chronic effects, were investigated for many years. However, its relation to low back pain and lumbar vertebra damages may is still controversial. This study aims to determine lumbar kinematic adjustments as high height increase and the contribution of its surrounding muscles to ensure balance and stable motion. In this study, a standard motion capture protocol is used to collect 3D motion data for healthy young females waking with a stiletto shoes with 8.5 cm of heigh. Then a generic full body lumbar model (Rabee 2016) was adjusted to our female subject’s anthropometric parameters (weight and height). Joint kinematics, muscle activations, and muscle forces were calculated for each gait cycle using Opensim software package. Preliminary results showed that wearing high-heeled shoes decrease lumbar joint flexion and the increase of axial rotation and lateral bending and induce a higher amount of spine muscle activities to propel legs during locomotion and to maintain spine balance. Consequently, muscular equilibrium changes around inter-vertebral joints engender higher compressive forces, which may cause discomfort, joint damages, and consequently low back pain. As conclusion, musculoskeletal modeling is a challenging tool to investigate biomechanical effects of altered gaits and predict joint damages in relation to footwear.