Biomechanical caracterisation of lumbar belt by full-field techniques: Preliminary results

In France, 50% of the population per year is suffering from low back pain. Lumbar belt are frequently proposed as a part of the treatment of this pathology. However mechanical ways of working of this medical device is not clearly understood, but abdominal pressure is often related. So an optical method was developed in this study to measure strain in lumbar belt and trunk interface and to derive a pressure estimation. Optical method consisted of coupling fringe projection and digital image correlation (DIC). Measurement has been carried out on the right side of a manikin wearing a lumbar belt. Average strain is 0.2 and average pressure is 1 kPa. Continuation of this study will be comparison of strain and pressure in different areas of lumbar belt (left side, front and back) and comparison of different lumbar belts. Results will be used in a finite elements model to determine lumbar belt impact in intern body. In long term, this kind of study will be done on human.