IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2020 Apr;28(4):914-923. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2020.2972323. Epub 2020 Feb 7.
The knee joint performs a significant amount of positive or negative mechanical work during gradient walking, and targeted assistance during periods of high mechanical work could yield strong human augmentation benefits. This paper explores the biomechanical effects of providing knee extension assistance during the early stance phase of the gait cycle using a powered unilateral knee exoskeleton during gradient walking on able-bodied subjects. Twelve subjects walked on 15% gradient incline and decline surfaces with the exoskeleton providing knee extension assistance during the early stance phase of the gait cycle. For both incline and decline walking, the exoskeleton assistance reduced the muscle activation of the knee extensors on the assisted leg ( ). However, only approximately half the individuals responded to exoskeleton assistance positively by reducing their metabolic cost of walking for both incline and decline tasks. The results indicate that, unlike the individuals who did respond, the individuals who did not respond to the assistance may have penalized their metabolic cost by their biomechanical compensatory behaviors from the unassisted leg.
在梯度行走过程中，膝关节执行大量的正或负机械功，在高机械功期间提供针对性的辅助可能会带来强大的人体增强效益。本文探讨了在步态周期的早期支撑阶段使用动力型单侧膝关节外骨骼为健全受试者提供膝关节伸展辅助时的生物力学影响。12 名受试者在 15%的斜坡和下坡表面上行走，外骨骼在步态周期的早期支撑阶段提供膝关节伸展辅助。对于上坡和下坡行走，外骨骼辅助降低了辅助腿上膝关节伸肌的肌肉激活（）。然而，只有大约一半的人通过减少上坡和下坡任务的步行代谢成本对外骨骼辅助做出积极反应。结果表明，与做出积极反应的人不同，那些对外骨骼辅助没有做出反应的人可能会因为非辅助腿的生物力学补偿行为而使他们的代谢成本受到惩罚。
