Research Progress on Biotribological Studies in Artificial Disc Prosthesis: The Method by Using Spinal Simulators

A lot of methods have been used for evaluation on biotribological performance in artificial disc,one of them is the application of spinal simulators,which has been widely used to study the medium and long-term wear performance of disc prosthesis.This review showed the current literatures regarding to the study about the wear performance in disc prosthesis by using spinal simulators, introduced the types of spinal simulators, research methods as well as relative test standards. In particular, it also presented the updated information about the research progress on effect factors of wear performance in disc prosthesis (structural design, materials for joint prosthesis, surface treatment, load/motion/frequency, lubricating liquid, wear time, etc.), and summarized some research results about wear performance in cervical/lumbar artificial disc prosthesis.