An artificial gastrocnemius for a transtibial prosthesis

A transtibial amputee does not have a functional gastrocnemius muscle, which affects the knee as well as the ankle joint. In this investigation, we developed a transtibial prosthesis comprising an artificial gastrocnemius mechanism as well as a powered ankle-foot device. A pilot study was conducted...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Swart, E., Endo, Ken, Herr, Hugh M.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 2010
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52488
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3169-1011
Description
Summary:A transtibial amputee does not have a functional gastrocnemius muscle, which affects the knee as well as the ankle joint. In this investigation, we developed a transtibial prosthesis comprising an artificial gastrocnemius mechanism as well as a powered ankle-foot device. A pilot study was conducted with a bilateral transtibial amputee walking at a self-selected speed. The trial compared muscle electromyography and metabolic cost data for the amputee while using the active gastrocnemius prosthesis and a conventional Flex-Foot prosthesis. The experimental data showed that the compensation for ankle-foot and gastrocnemius function offered by the active device resulted in a reduced metabolic cost for the amputee participant.