Extraction of mechanical properties of foot plantar tissues using ultrasound indentation associated with genetic algorithm.

This paper demonstrates the use of ultrasound indentation technique for estimating the mechanical properties of foot plantar tissues in virtue of the reconstruction of the force response using genetic algorithm (GA) from an indentation test based on a quasi-linear viscoelastic (QLV) model. The indentation test on the plantar tissues covering the right first metatarsal head of a normal subject was carried out to verify the feasibility of the GA for the extraction of the tissue properties. The QLV properties of the plantar tissues were determined by the GA with a fixed Poisson's ratio. Such results were then compared with those obtained using a classical optimization method. Moreover, the GA was further employed to simultaneously determine the QLV properties as well as the Poisson's ratio of the plantar tissues. The correlations between the QLV properties and the Poisson's ratio are discussed.