Knee and ankle kinematics in different walking conditions

To investigate the relationship between knee and ankle as a reference to the design of intelligent low limb prosthesis, this paper made experiments to describe the knee and ankle kinematics of normal gait on level ground, stairs and ramps of different slopes. 8 subjects participated in this study and gaits were measured on the level ground, stairs and ramps of different slopes using a motion capture system. Changes of knee and ankle angles with respect to walking conditions are described. Knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion at heel strike increased with the angle of ramps walking up. While walking down ramps, Knee flexion increased at toe off with the angle. Walking up/down stairs share the similar characteristics with walking up/down ramps, respectively. Coupling relationship of knee and ankle differed significantly between subjects and conditions, but there are linear relationships between knee angle and ankle angle. Taking the gait characteristics and relationship of knee and ankle analyzed in this paper as a reference, we can divide the gait into several parts and use a simple and linear way to approximate human gait, which can help us design and control intelligent low limb prosthesis that function well in all conditions in the future.

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