Ferrarin M, Stallard J, Palmieri R, Pedotti A
Department of Bioengineering, Polytechnic of Milan, Milan, Italy; Bioengineering Centre, Fnd. Pro Juventute Don Gnocchi IRCCS, Milan, Italy.
Clin Biomech (Bristol). 1993 Sep;8(5):255-61. doi: 10.1016/0268-0033(93)90035-G.
Although good results have already been achieved in reciprocal walking for paraplegic patients using mechanical orthoses (e.g. ORLAU ParaWalker), improvements in lateral stiffness of walking devices could increase significantly the efficiency of ambulation. For this reason a method for monitoring the structural properties of an orthosis during locomotion has been studied. A motion analysis system (ELITE system) able to detect automatically and accurately the positions of small retroreflective markers in a television field was used. Starting from marker positions, the angular variations between adjacent structural segments in the orthosis were computed and the areas in which maximum deformations occurred were identified. Experiments were performed on two paraplegic patients using their ORLAU ParaWalker orthoses and two different kinds of movements were analysed: lateral tilting and walking. The results show that this approach is able to detect the small deformations occurring in the orthotic structure and therefore to provide valuable information for orthotic design optimization.
尽管使用机械矫形器（如ORLAU ParaWalker）帮助截瘫患者进行交互行走已取得了良好效果，但行走装置横向刚度的改善可显著提高行走效率。因此，研究了一种在运动过程中监测矫形器结构特性的方法。使用了一个能够在电视画面中自动准确检测小反光标记位置的运动分析系统（ELITE系统）。从标记位置出发，计算矫形器中相邻结构段之间的角度变化，并识别出发生最大变形的区域。对两名使用ORLAU ParaWalker矫形器的截瘫患者进行了实验，并分析了两种不同的运动：侧向倾斜和行走。结果表明，这种方法能够检测到矫形器结构中发生的微小变形，从而为优化矫形器设计提供有价值的信息。
