Avinash G. Patwardhan, PhD

Director, Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Laboratory
Details:
A physiologic sagittal alignment of the head and neck, including the ability to maintain horizontal gaze, is essential to maintaining functionality during activities of daily living. Cervical sagittal malalignment has been linked to poor health-related quality of life and is an area of increasing clinical research interest.

Degenerative disc disease, soft tissue trauma, or post-surgical complications are among multiple etiologies that can induce cervical sagittal malalignment. Forward head posture (FHP), where the position of the head is abnormally forward relative to the shoulder in the standing or sitting positions is the most common postural abnormality in the cervical-thoracic-shoulder region. FHP can also result from poor posture during sitting in front of video monitors or driving, muscle imbalance between the neck flexors and extensors, sagittal imbalance in the lumbopelvic region, and upper thoracic hyperkyphosis (rounded shoulders). FHP is associated with an increased incidence and maintenance of cervical pain, inter-scapular pain and headache. Patients seek medical care including physical therapy or chiropractic manual therapies. Some may require surgical reconstruction to improve sagittal balance.

The long-term goal of our research is to understand how malalignment may influence changes in muscle lengths, neuroforaminal and canal spaces, and load sharing between disc and facets, so as to optimize both manual and surgical treatments.

For more info, please visit drexel.edu/biomed.

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Biosketch:
Avinash G. Patwardhan, PhD, is the founding director of the Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Laboratory at the Hines VA Hospital and Loyola University Medical Center, where he is a Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation. Dr. Patwardhan also teaches and mentors graduate students in the Department of Bioengineering of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). His research is focused in the area of spine biomechanics, particularly spinal deformities.