Annals of Biomedical Engineering最新文献

{"title":"Design of a Wearable Finger PPG-Based Blood Glucose Monitor","authors":"Mutian Wang,&nbsp;Xuelei Liu,&nbsp;Wenyi Han,&nbsp;Xinyu Lin,&nbsp;Xin Chen,&nbsp;Shun Zhao,&nbsp;Zhiqiang Zhuang,&nbsp;Leian Zhang,&nbsp;Peiqiang Su","doi":"10.1007/s10439-025-03809-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10439-025-03809-9","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><p>Blood glucose monitoring is crucial for controlling diabetes. However, traditional fingertip pricking methods usually cause discomfort to patients and cannot achieve continuous monitoring. To overcome these limitations, we developed a novel, non-invasive, and wearable device for continuous blood glucose levels (BGLs) monitoring. </p><h3>Methods</h3><p>The device is equipped with a pulse oximeter, which has a visible wavelength (660 nm) and an infrared wavelength (880 nm) light-emitting diode (LED) to acquire finger photoplethysmography (PPG). The BGLs from PPG were estimated using a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) machine learning model, which was trained on dual-wavelength PPG intensity pertaining to various BGLs. We also analyzed the effect of MLP training parameters on the accuracy of blood glucose prediction. </p><h3>Results</h3><p>Experimental results indicate that 99.33% of the BGLs estimated from PPG lie in the clinically acceptable Clarke error grid (CEG) regions A and B, suggesting a high potential for accurate blood glucose monitoring with minimal clinical risk. Additionally, our 24-hour monitoring test further validates the device’s capability to effectively track daily glucose fluctuations, which verifies its reliability in daily blood glucose monitoring. </p><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>In conclusion, our novel wearable device for continuous blood glucose monitoring has shown feasibility and effectiveness. By leveraging PPG signals and a machine learning model, we have developed a promising alternative to traditional invasive blood glucose monitoring methods. This device has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life for diabetes patients by providing a more comfortable and continuous monitoring option.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":"53 10","pages":"2580 - 2593"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144673802","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tissue-Selective Separation Mechanism of Multi-type Soft Tissues Under Waterjet Impact for Low-Trauma Cutting Surgery","authors":"Jiaqi Zhao,&nbsp;Xiao-Fei Song,&nbsp;Xiaoxian Wei,&nbsp;Jiuke Mu,&nbsp;Peng Peng,&nbsp;Wenli Yu","doi":"10.1007/s10439-025-03801-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10439-025-03801-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><p>Waterjet is increasingly used in medicine for cutting and ablation of soft tissues due to its non-thermal damage and tissue-selective separation. However, the tissue-selective separation mechanism for cutting target tissues while protecting blood vessels under waterjet impact remains little known. In this study, the mechanical properties, dynamic responses and tissue-selective separation mechanisms of four typical soft tissues including liver, muscle, and arterial–venous blood vessels under waterjet impact were investigated.</p><h3>Methods</h3><p>Uniaxial tensile testing and waterjet impact testing were conducted to measure the mechanical properties and cutting responses of liver, muscle, and arterial–venous blood vessels. Based on fracture mechanics, the critical separation pressure and impact depth for these soft tissues were determined and analyzed as key controlling parameters for tissue-selective separation.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>The mechanical response showed that the Young’s modulus and tensile strength of blood vessels were significantly higher than those of liver and muscle tissues due to their obvious differences in tissue composition and structure, which were necessary factors for achieving tissue-selective separation. The impact depths were negatively correlated with the mechanical properties of the tissues, while the critical separation pressures were positively correlated with their mechanical properties. A sliding effect of blood vessels embedded in soft tissues was found, where the vessels slid sideways and changed position to avoid damage while target soft tissues were completely cut under waterjet impact. This indicates that the vascular sliding effect controlled by waterjet processing parameters and tissue properties is an important determination for achieving tissue-selective separation during waterjet impact.</p><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>To achieve tissue-selective separation with low damage while ensuring high efficiency, reasonable waterjet impact pressures of 2.5–3.4 MPa for liver and 3.1–3.4 MPa for muscle with the transverse speeds of 12–15 mm/s are recommended for clinical surgery. This study provides practical insights into process control and tissue-selective protection in medical waterjet applications for low-trauma cutting surgery of soft tissues.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":"53 10","pages":"2612 - 2625"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144666905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Automated Quantitative Evaluation of Age-Related Thymic Involution on Plain Chest CT","authors":"Yuki T. Okamura,&nbsp;Katsuhiro Endo,&nbsp;Akira Toriihara,&nbsp;Issei Fukuda,&nbsp;Jun Isogai,&nbsp;Yasunori Sato,&nbsp;Kenji Yasuoka,&nbsp;Shin-Ichiro Kagami","doi":"10.1007/s10439-025-03805-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10439-025-03805-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The thymus is an important immune organ involved in T-cell generation. Age-related involution of the thymus has been linked to various age-related pathologies in recent studies. However, there has been no method proposed to quantify age-related thymic involution based on a clinical image. The purpose of this study was to establish an objective and automatic method to quantify age-related thymic involution based on plain chest computed tomography (CT) images. We newly defined the thymic region for quantification (TRQ) as the target anatomical region. We manually segmented the TRQ in 135 CT studies, followed by construction of segmentation neural network (NN) models using the data. We developed the estimator of thymic volume (ETV), a quantitative indicator of the thymic tissue volume inside the segmented TRQ, based on simple mathematical modeling. The Hounsfield unit (HU) value and volume of the NN-segmented TRQ were measured, and the ETV was calculated in each CT study from 853 healthy subjects. We investigated how these measures were related to age and sex using quantile additive regression models. A significant correlation between the NN-segmented and manually segmented TRQ was seen for both the HU value and volume (r = 0.996 and r = 0.986, respectively). ETV declined exponentially with age (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.001), consistent with age-related decline in the thymic tissue volume. In conclusion, our method enabled robust quantification of age-related thymic involution. Our method may aid in the prediction and risk classification of pathologies related to thymic involution.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":"53 10","pages":"2626 - 2637"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144666901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The AI Surge in Surgery: Evolution, Challenges, and Ethical Considerations","authors":"Ayesha Parvaiz Malik,&nbsp;Waleed Ahmad,&nbsp;Javed Iqbal","doi":"10.1007/s10439-025-03813-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10439-025-03813-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Interestingly, the integration of AI technologies into surgery in the past 5 years has increased by more than 400%, changing the way patients are treated and work is performed globally. Artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of surgery is changing the modern face of medicine by providing it with better accuracy, decision-making, and patient outcomes. Examples of AI in practice suggest their use before, during, and after surgery. Nevertheless, as fast as this is progressing, there are also emerging advanced data privacy problems, inequality in algorithms, and ethical issues associated with training and decision-making. Due to the increasing use of surgical AI systems as support and the possible emergence of autonomous entities, the need to care about clinical validation, ethical regulation, and multidisciplinary work should become stricter. This commentary highlights the current state, opportunity, and protective measures needed to offer fair and practical application of surgical AI. The audience of this commentary is surgical practitioners, healthcare administrators, and policymakers in an effort to foster an informed debate as well as create a system of incentives toward the collaborative model that is indispensable in advancing the responsible incorporation of AI into surgical use.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":"53 9","pages":"1989 - 1992"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144666904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Computational Dynamic Analysis of Medial Meniscus with Redial Tear, Repair, and Meniscectomy","authors":"Xin Ma,&nbsp;Luming Feng,&nbsp;Yongtao Lyu,&nbsp;Xijin Hua,&nbsp;Naohiko Sugita,&nbsp;Liming Shu","doi":"10.1007/s10439-025-03803-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10439-025-03803-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><p>To investigate the influences of radial tears of the medial meniscus and subsequent surgical treatment (repair or meniscectomy) on the knee joint mechanics during normal walking.</p><h3>Methods</h3><p>An original multiscale finite element musculoskeletal model was developed to model and study an intact knee model (no RT), four meniscal RT knee models (30% RT, 45% RT, 60% RT, and 90% RT) and 3 treatment option models for 60% RT.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>The magnitude and location of peak contact pressure on tibial cartilage were minimally affected (within 0.5 MPa) by the radial tear involving up to 45% of the meniscal rim width throughout the whole gait cycle. The contact area between the femoral cartilage and the medial meniscus continued to decrease as the radial tear degree increased, with peak contact areas of approximately 450 mm², 435 mm², 430 mm², and 405 mm² for 30%, 45%, 60%, and 90% RT. Regarding the surgical treatment, meniscectomy led to the most significant increase in the contact pressure and alterations in the kinematics, while suture repair restored the contact stress to the level of the intact knee joint and a better recovery in the contact area. An optimized partial meniscectomy could reduce loading on the meniscus and joint cartilage, but no significant improvement in contact area compared with 60% RT.</p><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Meniscal tear and its resultant partial meniscectomy have a positive impact on the maintenance of high levels of contact stresses, whereas meniscectomy causes the highest risk for the development of knee osteoarthritis. Meniscal repair procedures significantly restore native meniscal function.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":"53 10","pages":"2524 - 2535"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144666902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Disc Injury and Spine Loads in Low-to-Moderate-Severity Frontal Impacts","authors":"Richard Kent,&nbsp;Jason Forman","doi":"10.1007/s10439-025-03808-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10439-025-03808-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><p>Determine the cervical and lumbar spine forces and moments generated in belted occupants in frontal impacts up to 40-km/h change in velocity (<span>({Delta }V)</span>) and assess their potential to cause spinal disc injury.</p><h3>Methods</h3><p>Loads experienced by anthropomorphic test devices, human volunteers, and human cadavers were measured in 282 impact tests. Functions were developed to describe the expected loads as functions of <span>({Delta }V)</span> for small females, mid-size males, and large males. Loads were contextualized by comparison to injury assessment reference values, manual lifting standards, the compressive loads that have caused spinal disc injuries in vitro, and the compressive spinal loads that occur in other situations.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>The functions confirm that the spinal loads are well below any established injury assessment reference value. Compressive loads are within the range of loads voluntarily tolerated during daily activities and well below the loads that have caused disc injuries in biomechanical studies.</p><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>This study confirms the lack of a biomechanical foundation to assert specific causation when a belted occupant presents with isolated disc herniations, bulges, or extrusions through the annulus following a frontal impact under 40-km/h <span>({Delta }V)</span>.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":"53 10","pages":"2689 - 2700"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10439-025-03808-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144666903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Relative Contributions of Motor Unit Firing Pattern, Muscle Quantity, and Muscle Quality to Maximum Muscle Strength in Female Patients with Early and Severe Knee Osteoarthritis","authors":"Takaya Watabe,&nbsp;Yuichi Nishikawa,&nbsp;Hisashi Naito,&nbsp;Takuya Sengoku,&nbsp;Yuta Taniguchi","doi":"10.1007/s10439-025-03802-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10439-025-03802-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><p>While changes in muscle quality and quantity are common concerns as knee osteoarthritis (KOA) progresses, it is equally important to consider the central nervous system’s role in regulating muscle force output. This study aimed to elucidate the firing properties of motor units (MUs), muscle quantity, and muscle quality during submaximal isometric contractions in patients with early and severe KOA.</p><h3>Methods</h3><p>This was a prospective study comparing 30 patients with KOA according to the Kellgren/Lawrence grading system divided into early and severe KOA groups. The participants performed ramp-up and sustained contractions at 10%, 30%, and 60% of their maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). High-density surface electromyography signals were recorded in the vastus medialis (VM) and vastus lateralis (VL) muscles on the affected side. Skeletal muscle quantity and quality were assessed using computed tomography based on cross-sectional area (CSA) and computed tomography attenuation value (CTV), respectively.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>The CSA of the VM muscle was significantly smaller in the severe KOA group than in the early KOA group (<i>p</i> = 0.021). A total of 682 MUs were detected (early KOA, <i>n</i> = 348, severe KOA, <i>n</i> = 334). The ramp-down phase of the discharge rate (DR) of MUs recruited by the VL muscle in the severe KOA group was significantly lower than that in the early KOA group (<i>p</i> = 0.004). In addition, the knee extension torque of patients with early KOA was significantly correlated with the CSA of the VM muscle (<i>r</i> = 0.405) and the DR obtained at 30% MVC of the VM (<i>r</i> = 0.503) and VL (<i>r</i> = 0.610) muscle. Furthermore, the knee extension torque in patients with severe KOA was significantly correlated with the CTV of the VM (<i>r</i> = 0.677) and VL (<i>r</i> = 0.599) muscles.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>In patients with severe KOA, a small CSA of the VM is associated with a characteristic DR pattern depending on the contraction level. The VM and VL muscles fired without a hierarchical pattern in the early and severe KOA groups. These findings suggest that neuromuscular degeneration may occur not only in patients with severe KOA but also in patients with early KOA.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":"53 10","pages":"2513 - 2523"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10439-025-03802-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144658180","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Geometric Deep Learning Model for Real-Time Prediction of Knee Joint Biomechanics Under Meniscal Extrusion","authors":"Xiaokang Ma,&nbsp;Jinhuang Xu,&nbsp;Jie Fu,&nbsp;Qiang Liu","doi":"10.1007/s10439-025-03798-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10439-025-03798-9","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Meniscal extrusion (ME) has been identified as a key factor contributing to knee joint dysfunction and osteoarthritis progression. Traditional finite element analysis (FEA) methods, while accurate, are computationally expensive and time-consuming, limiting their application for real-time clinical assessments and large-scale studies. This study proposes a geometric deep learning (GDL) model to predict the biomechanical responses of knee joint soft tissues, specifically focusing on the effects of varying degrees of meniscal extrusion. The model, trained on finite element analysis (FEA)-derived data and leveraging advanced AI algorithms, significantly reduces computational time while maintaining high prediction accuracy. Validation against FEA results demonstrated that the GDL model reliably predicts stress and displacement distributions, with key performance metrics including Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), Percent Error at Peak Location (PEatPEAK), and Percent Error in Peak Value (PEinPEAK). Compared to conventional FEA workflows, the GDL model eliminates time-consuming preprocessing steps, enabling real-time or near-real-time biomechanical assessments. This innovation provides rapid insights into knee joint mechanics, facilitating clinical decision-making, surgical planning, and personalized rehabilitation strategies. The findings underscore the potential of AI-driven approaches to revolutionize biomechanical research and clinical practice, offering scalable and personalized solutions for joint mechanics analysis. </p></div>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":"53 10","pages":"2503 - 2512"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144636001","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Influence of Spinal Bridging Ossification on Mechanical Properties and Fracture Tolerance Under Flexion/Extension Loading","authors":"Elizabeth A. Rapp van Roden,&nbsp;Corinne N. Riggin,&nbsp;Derek T. Holyoak,&nbsp;Dhara Amin,&nbsp;Patrick Hall,&nbsp;Juan Jose Paredes,&nbsp;Cynthia Day,&nbsp;Kathleen A. Rodowicz,&nbsp;Ryan Siskey,&nbsp;Michael R. Carhart","doi":"10.1007/s10439-025-03790-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10439-025-03790-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><p>Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is characterized by “flowing” ossifications that form along the anterolateral aspect of contiguous vertebrae. While prior literature has identified that DISH patients are susceptible to spinal injury, the DISH-specific differences in mechanical response of human spines to applied bending have not been quantified. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to assess the effect of DISH on range of motion, stiffness, and fracture tolerance under flexion/extension loading.</p><h3>Methods</h3><p>Seven human cadaveric spines were dissected into specimens composed of three functional spinal units (3FSUs), spanning levels T1–T4, T5–T8, and T9–T12. For each 3FSU specimen, the presence of bridging DISH ossification was determined. Ten DISH-affected and eleven normal specimens were evaluated under flexion/extension range of motion followed by extension to failure/system limits.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>DISH-affected specimens had significantly less range of motion compared to normal specimens (1.8 deg vs. 3.2 deg, p = 0.0125) and were significantly stiffer (5.5 N·m/deg vs. 2.9 N·m/deg, p = 0.0167). All DISH-affected specimens fractured during extension to failure, whereas five normal specimens did not fracture under the test loading. Hazard ratio analyses indicated that DISH-affected specimens are four times more likely to fracture compared to normal specimens under a given torque and sixteen times more likely for a given extension angle. The normal specimen median energy at fracture was significantly greater than the DISH-affected group (301 Nm·deg vs. 81 Nm·deg, p = 0.006).</p><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>This study demonstrates a significant increase in the injury potential of DISH spines during bending loading and provides the first quantitative support for clinical observations of compromised fracture tolerance within the DISH population. Future work classifying the severity of DISH in the context of mechanical response may assist in radiological identification of otherwise asymptomatic patients with increased potential for injury.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":"53 10","pages":"2679 - 2688"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144625296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hypothesis Testing of Multivariate Biomechanical Responses using Statistical Parametric Mapping and Arc-Length Re-parameterization","authors":"Devon C. Hartlen,&nbsp;Duane S. Cronin","doi":"10.1007/s10439-025-03788-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10439-025-03788-x","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Detection of differences between experimental biomechanical datasets is critical to quantify effects and their significance. Many forms of biomechanical data are continuous and multivariate in nature, yet contemporary statistical analysis and hypothesis testing most often utilize single-value scalar metrics. However, reducing continuous responses to single-value scalar metrics can introduce bias and eliminate much of the physical context of a response. This study proposes a methodology to perform hypothesis testing directly on continuous multivariate experimental datasets. The methodology couples arc-length re-parameterization with statistical parametric mapping (SPM) to provide a general framework that can be applied to many of the response types found in biomechanics, including sets of responses that do not terminate at a common coordinate or are hysteretic, such as load-unload data. The arc-length-based SPM methodology was applied to three literature datasets representing a cross-section of the types of responses encountered in biomechanics. In each case, the arc-length-based SPM methodology produced results that agreed with contemporary statistical techniques while providing quantification and identification of statistically significant differences between the datasets. The proposed method provided important contextual information and a deeper understanding of the underlying behavior of a dataset that would otherwise be missed using contemporary single-value scalar metric statistical techniques, such as highlighting specific response features that drive differences between datasets.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7986,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Biomedical Engineering","volume":"53 10","pages":"2536 - 2550"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144636003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}