Contact Mechanics and the Human Body: Current Applications, Emerging Opportunities, and Market Potential Across Clinical Domains

Abstract

Abstract. Contact mechanics has played a fundamental role in advancing our understanding of interfaces within human joints. The field has enabled groundbreaking discoveries and the development of artificial hip and knee implants, dramatically improving the quality of life for millions of patients worldwide. Yet one could argue that these colossal achievements have, to some extent, overshadowed the many other transformative opportunities that contact mechanics offers in medicine and human health. In this review, we explore a broad range of areas in which contact mechanics can influence, inform, and improve healthcare. To provide a sense of scale and relevance, we consider the market size and projected growth of each application domain, and we intentionally avoid focusing on a single anatomical region. Rather than delving deeply into each topic, our goal is to highlight as many promising directions as possible, encouraging new researchers in tribology to examine the human body through the lens of contact mechanics. We discuss the role of contact mechanics across orthopedics, oncology, dermatology, biomedical device and wearable development, footwear science, cardiovascular disease, ophthalmology, dentistry, urology and gastroenterology, interventional tool design, and injury modeling and prediction.