AME Seminar: Hamed Malakoutikhah

Abstract: This talk is intended to provide a perspective on the causes of adult acquired flatfoot deformity, which is a common degenerative disorder in which certain tendons and ligaments in the foot degenerate, resulting in ankle and foot pain. Patients with longstanding flatfoot deformity often develop arthritis of the midfoot or hindfoot joints, leading to a fixed deformity, and some even develop ankle arthritis. Despite the importance of ligaments in flatfoot, the kinematic and kinetic effects of ligament degeneration and tears on the progression of deformity and the development of arthrosis have not been well characterized. Thus, the purpose of our study was to develop a computational and cadaveric model of the foot to evaluate the impact of ligament failure on the development of flatfoot and joint degeneration. The development of the finite element model of the foot from CT scan images, the simulation of flatfoot deformity, the validation of the model, and its cadaveric test setup will all be covered in this talk.

Bio: Hamed Malakoutikhah is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Arizona. He received his MS degrees from the University of Tehran, Iran, in 2009. His research interests include Biomechanics and Foot & Ankle.