Modelling of Spinal Cord Biomechanics: In Vitro and Computational Approaches

In vivo testing of spinal cord biomechanics is surrounded with difficulties. This is due to methodological issues such as reproducibility and visualization problems as well as ethical concerns and the possible lack of correlation between animal models and the human tissue response. Therefore, a number of in vitro and computational studies have been performed in order to increase the understanding of the spinal cord’s mechanical behaviour during trauma. Due to its well defined nature, the burst fracture and its effect on the spinal cord have been frequently studied, but investigations on other injuries such as distraction and dislocation are also cited in the literature. In vitro models have utilised a variety of materials including polymers and biological tissue from different animals. Similarly a variety of models have been used in computational studies to represent the cord which range in terms of both geometric complexity and material models. This chapter aims to provide a review of the methods and materials used in vitro and computational models of the spinal cord injury.