Quantifying the in vivo quasi-static response to loading of sub-dermal tissues in the human buttock using magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

Background The design of seating systems to improve comfort and reduce injury would benefit from improved understanding of the deformation and strain patterns in soft tissues, particularly in the gluteal region.

Methods Ten healthy men were positioned in a semi-recumbent posture while their pelvic and thigh region was scanned using a wide-bore magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Independent measurements of deformation for muscles and fat were taken for the transition from non-weight-bearing to weight-bearing loads in three stages. A weight-bearing load was achieved through having the subject supported by a flat, rigid surface. A non-weight-bearing condition was achieved by removing the support under the left buttock, leaving all soft tissue layers undeformed. An intermediate condition partially relieved the subject's left buttock by lowering the support relative to the pelvis by 20 mm, which left the buttock partially deformed. For each of these conditions, the thicknesses of muscle and fat tissues below the ischial tuberosity and the greater trochanter were measured from the MRI data.

Findings In this dataset, the greatest soft tissue deformation took place below the ischial tuberosity, with muscles (mean = 17.7 mm, SD = 4.8 mm) deforming more than fat tissues (mean = 4.3 mm, SD = 5.6 mm). Muscles deformed through both steps of the transition from weight-bearing to non-weight-bearing conditions, while subcutaneous fat deformed little after the first transition from non-weight-bearing to partial-weight-bearing. High inter-subject variability in muscle and fat tissue strains was observed.

Interpretation Our findings highlight the importance of considering inter-subject variability when designing seating systems.