Background For the correction of Hallux hypermobility through surgery, Lapidus plates have been studied as surgical fixation devices to evaluate the procedure’s success and its implications for biomechanical foot performance. However, significant knowledge gaps persist regarding the behavior of these devices and their biomechanical characteristics following implantation. Methods This work studies two types of Lapidus plates through a coupled experimental-computational analysis. The first is a plantar fixation device, and the second is a helical device; both are used as fixation tools in Cuneometatarsal Arthrodesis. For this, mechanical tests specifically compression and fatigue are conducted with specimens of cadaveric feet implanted in the first cuneometatarsal joint (FCMJ) with each of the Lapidus plates. To the knowledge of this research team, for the first time reported in literature, complete foot specimens are used for the experimental tests. At the same time, numerical foot models have been developed to generate numerical data validated against experimental results. This approach enables the identification of additional structural information, through numerical methods, which is then complemented by electron microscopy analyses of the plates after experimental testing. Results The highest micro-deformation was found in the first metatarsal of the foot with a helical plate (<InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\:{8.61\times\:10}^{-5}\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation> mm/mm) and in the fifth metatarsal of the foot with a plantar plate (<InlineEquation ID="IEq2"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\:{5.25\times\:10}^{-5}\)</EquationSource> </InlineEquation> mm/mm). Both numerical and experimental analyses agreed within 98%. A correction of Hallux hypermobility up to 82.28% was achieved with the Lapidus arthrodesis, and bone failure was recorded at forces of 425 N and 275 N at the helical and plantar insertions, respectively. Conclusions The results suggest that the Lapidus plate’s helical configuration is superior, both structurally and functionally, to the plantar-only configuration, indicating that multi-planar fixation provides better mechanical stability than single-plane plantar fixation.

Coupled experimental–computational study of Lapidus plates for the high-performance of surgical techniques for hallux hypermobility correction

期刊论文
出版模式：

开放获取
发表日期：

2026年5月11日

查看全文

Natali Mancera-Campos,
L. Padrón-Cabrera,
M. Llorens-Eizaguerri,
J. A. Bea,
A. Vidal-Lesso,
J. Bayod-López

摘要

Background

For the correction of Hallux hypermobility through surgery, Lapidus plates have been studied as surgical fixation devices to evaluate the procedure’s success and its implications for biomechanical foot performance. However, significant knowledge gaps persist regarding the behavior of these devices and their biomechanical characteristics following implantation.

Methods

This work studies two types of Lapidus plates through a coupled experimental-computational analysis. The first is a plantar fixation device, and the second is a helical device; both are used as fixation tools in Cuneometatarsal Arthrodesis. For this, mechanical tests specifically compression and fatigue are conducted with specimens of cadaveric feet implanted in the first cuneometatarsal joint (FCMJ) with each of the Lapidus plates. To the knowledge of this research team, for the first time reported in literature, complete foot specimens are used for the experimental tests. At the same time, numerical foot models have been developed to generate numerical data validated against experimental results. This approach enables the identification of additional structural information, through numerical methods, which is then complemented by electron microscopy analyses of the plates after experimental testing.

Results

The highest micro-deformation was found in the first metatarsal of the foot with a helical plate ( \(\:{8.61\times\:10}^{-5}\) mm/mm) and in the fifth metatarsal of the foot with a plantar plate ( \(\:{5.25\times\:10}^{-5}\) mm/mm). Both numerical and experimental analyses agreed within 98%. A correction of Hallux hypermobility up to 82.28% was achieved with the Lapidus arthrodesis, and bone failure was recorded at forces of 425 N and 275 N at the helical and plantar insertions, respectively.

Conclusions

The results suggest that the Lapidus plate’s helical configuration is superior, both structurally and functionally, to the plantar-only configuration, indicating that multi-planar fixation provides better mechanical stability than single-plane plantar fixation.