Biomechanics Modeling of the Musculoskeletal Apparatus: Status and Key Issues

The aim of this review paper is to report on the current state of the art in creating in silico humans able to simulate the biomechanics of the human body at all scales of interest. The focus is on the musculoskeletal apparatus, although much of what is written is valid also for the biomechanical modeling of other organs. The state of the art of computational biomechanics at body, organ, tissue, and cell levels is briefly described and the most recent achievements in the area of multiscale models are discussed. In conclusion, the challenges to be faced to realize a true living human model are summarized. It is evident that the demands associated with some of these challenges greatly exceed the potential currently possessed by the computational biomechanics research community. Thus, to tackle them it will be necessary not only to coordinate all efforts in a coherent way,but also to mobilize much greater financial and human resources than are currently available.