The purpose of this project is to develop open access finite element models of the human lumbar spine using open source software (FEBio Software Suite (https://febio.org/)). We are developing whole lumbar spine models (L1-5) and models of functional spine units (FSUs). Models are developed from CT image data segmented in our laboratory (https://mrl.sci.utah.edu/) and from porting models to FEBio that were first developed for commercial codes. This project is a collaboration between the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopaedics at the University of Utah, and we work closely with the FEBio development team.

Please see the following reference for details about the models and cite this reference when using the models for further publications:

Finley SM, Spina NT, Brodke DS, DeDen CA, Ellis BJ: FEBio finite element models of the human lumbar spine. Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 21(6): 444-452, 2018.