About me

I am a veterinary orthopaedic surgeon with an interest in Biomechanics. I have been studying biomechanics for many years using medical and veterinary manuscripts. The more I read, the less I realised I understood. I found that the terminology used in the literature was conflicting, and the same concepts were described differently by various authors. 

​

My first encounter with conflicting evidence was when I read about the concept of "strain and stress distribution over a large working length of a plate". Although I could intuitively understand the logic, I could not do the math work using my basic algebraic skills and knowledge of stress and strain. I decided to get more in-depth by downloading an engineering book on statics. The first chapter was easy, and I knew I was on the right path. But as the chapters progressed, intermediate-level mathematics kicked in. The concept of stress distribution was in Chapter 7. I was never going to make it, so I gave up. I then started following YouTube videos created by engineers for engineering undergraduate students. After much effort, it became evident that what the engineers call "stress distribution" differs greatly from what the orthopaedic texts mean. In engineering, stress distribution describes the magnitude of stress throughout the different levels of the same cross-section of a beam. Distribution in engineering is used the same way it is used in Statistics. When we look at the distribution of height in a population of people, we mean the graphical representation of the height of individuals in this population. Imagine a bar chart where the horizontal axis depicts different different heights ( 170 cm, 180 cm ...), and the vertical axis depicts the number of individuals with this height. We don't mean to take the height of Everest and distribute it (divide it) among many individuals. The orthopaedic manuals used the term to say that one stress is distributed over the length of a beam meaning that if the stress over a length is X and the length of the beam is L, then the stress at each cross-section of the beam would be X/L. So, the larger the length, the smallest the stress at each cross-section. 

 

This was wrong, but what math could I use to prove it? I realised that mathematics is the language used to describe these concepts exactly as we use English or another language to describe emotions. You simply cannot understand it unless you know the language. But where does one start from? I started from the end, that is from integration and deriviation. Then I realised I had to go back to study algebra first and then I realised I had forgotten even the laws of the indices. 

​

I had to start from scratch!

​

In 2019 I decided to enroll with an engineering degree but maths was a prerequisite. It took me five years of interrupted part-time self-tutored study to be able to enrol with a STEM degree with the Open University, London. After almost five years of studying and while I am still in the beginning, I feel that everything has changed about how I see biomechanics. Although I am still learning, I now understand and I wish to help others understand.​​

​

Christos Nikolaou DVM CertAVP(GSAS) MRCVS

Advanced Practitioner in Small Animal Surgery | Undergraduate student STEM (Engineering & Statistics), The Open University, UK | Student Member, The Institute of Mathematics and its Applications