Innovative Treatment Design Software Creates Personalized Plans for Movement Impairments

Recent advancements in treatment planning software are revolutionizing the way healthcare professionals approach movement impairments caused by conditions such as stroke, osteoarthritis, cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s disease, limb amputation, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and cancer. These impairments affect approximately 1.7 billion people globally, including 19% of the adult population in the United States, leading to reduced mobility, increased healthcare costs, and lower quality of life.

Led by researchers at Rice University, the development of the Neuromusculoskeletal Modeling (NMSM) Pipeline introduces a novel, personalized medicine approach. This cutting-edge software enables clinicians and researchers to build detailed digital models—often referred to as "digital twins"—that reflect an individual patient’s unique anatomy, physiology, and neural control properties by utilizing movement data and advanced optimization techniques.

The NMSM Pipeline is built on an open-source, MATLAB-based platform that enhances existing musculoskeletal modeling software called OpenSim. It features two main components: a model personalization toolkit and a treatment optimization module. The former constructs a comprehensive model tailored to the patient's specific anatomical and neural characteristics. The latter predicts how various interventions—like surgery, device control adjustments, or physical therapy—will affect the patient’s movement outcomes.

This integrated modeling approach allows for precise simulation and prediction of treatment effects, enabling clinicians to design interventions that are customized to each patient’s needs. Unlike typical machine learning models that may act as "black boxes," this physics-based system requires less data and provides high reliability in forecasting post-treatment movement capabilities. An example of its practical application is the recent redevelopment of a walking intervention for medial knee osteoarthritis, which was originally thought to require invasive surgery. Using the personalized model, clinicians identified a non-invasive behavior modification that significantly improved the patient's condition.

The software’s rapid processing—creating a personalized model in as little as one day—and user-friendly interface make it accessible even to those with minimal engineering training. This accelerates the integration of personalized modeling into clinical workflows, potentially transforming movement disorder treatment. As the technology evolves, standards and best practices will further streamline the process, enabling complex treatment plans to be developed within days.

The researchers hope that by democratizing access to advanced neuromusculoskeletal modeling, the NMSM Pipeline will help clinicians develop more accurate, objective predictions of treatment outcomes. Ultimately, this could lead to higher satisfaction among patients and more effective, tailored interventions—improving mobility and quality of life for millions worldwide.

More information can be found in the original publication in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation.