Modeling and Prediction of Body Segment Inertial Properties of Sheep from Tomographic Imaging.

Estimation of body segment inertial properties (BSIPs) is a crucial step in development of inverse dynamics models. The goal of this study was to develop predictive models to estimate the mass, center of mass, and inertia tensor of the hindlimbs of sheep using easily obtainable morphometric data. In addition, this study presents a more comprehensive and repeatable method for defining each hindlimb body segment when calculating BSIPs from CT data. CT scans from 16 sheep of varying age, weight, sex, and phenotype were used to develop predictive models to estimate the BSIPs of the pelvis, thigh, crus, metatarsus, and pastern segments. The predictive models developed enable investigators to create inverse dynamics models of sheep hindlimbs. These models are particularly informative and expand the use of ovine models of human musculoskeletal disease.