Étude mécanique des articles de contention et de leurs effets sur la jambe humaine

This paper presents a synthesis of different studie s willing to bring a scientific insight on leg compression, which is the process of applying exter nal compression forces onto the human leg with stockings or socks, for enhancing the venous flow. It seems obvious that the pressure distribution on the leg affects the blood flow in the veins. However, tdistribution that leads to the optimal blood flow is not trivial, and it is different with regard to the application: medical treatment or recoveri ng after an effort in sports. In order to improve the scient ific knowledge about this topic, a numerical 2D mod el was set up for computing stress fields inside the laccounting for both the actual material propert ies of the compression stocking and of the leg biological tissues. Suitable identification methods, based eit her on model updating from digital image correlation (f or the compression stockings), or on image warping and model updating from MRI scans (for the internal leg tissues), were developed for retrieving these material properties. This approach is now used for assessing the effects onto the human leg of differe nt items produced by the BVSport ® Company.