Simulations in orthopedics and rehabilitation - Part 2: Computer simulations

Simulations in medicine have already become the mainstream trend in the field of research and education. It includes simulations on simulators through which students are afforded the opportunity to train manual skills as well as series of simulations that enable one to train not just motor and manual skills alone. Some of these offer the student the basis to train decision-making process and conduct experiments that visualize biological phenomena that are important from a doctor’s perspective. The authors have done a review of medical computer simulations and found that simulations in medicine focus, in respect of the issues raised, on techniques and computer science aspects. The first one is discussed in the paper “Simulations in orthopedics and rehabilitation – Part I: Simulators.” The second one is discussed in this paper. In the paper, the authors focus on computer simulations, in the broadest sense, presenting them while taking into consideration the distinction between simulations used for the following purposes: test (conducted under laboratory conditions), training (incorporated into school, universities syllabus), and diagnostic and therapeutic (within the hospital, clinics, private medical practice).