Etude m\'ecanique des articles de contention et de leurs effets sur la jambe humaine. Mechanical investigation of compression stockings and of their effects on the human leg

TL;DR

This paper investigates how compression stockings affect leg blood flow by modeling stress distributions inside the leg, using numerical simulations and imaging techniques to optimize compression therapy.

Contribution

It introduces a 2D numerical model of the leg with material property identification methods for stockings and tissues, advancing scientific understanding of compression effects.

Findings

Numerical stress field computations inside the leg.

Development of material property identification methods.

Insights into optimal pressure distribution for blood flow enhancement.

Abstract

This paper presents a synthesis of different studies willing to bring a scientific insight into leg compression, which is the process of applying external compression forces onto the human leg with stockings or socks, for enhancing the venous flow. It seems obvious that the pressure distribution on the leg affects the blood flow in the veins. However, the pressure distribution that leads to the optimal blood flow is not trivial, and it is different with regard to the application: medical treatment or recovering after an effort in sports. In order to improve the scientific knowledge about this topic, a numerical 2D model was set up for computing stress fields inside the leg, accounting for the actual material properties of both the compression stocking and of the leg biological tissues. Suitable identification methods, based either on model updating from digital image correlation (for the compression stockings), or on image warping and model updating from MRI scans (for the internal leg tissues), were developed for retrieving these material properties.