Human Physiology and Sports Physiotherapy Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
Brussels Human Robotics Research Center (BruBotics), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
Biomed Eng Online. 2023 Feb 15;22(1):14. doi: 10.1186/s12938-023-01074-2.
A mechanical ankle-foot prosthesis (Talaris Demonstrator) was developed to improve prosthetic gait in people with a lower-limb amputation. This study aims to evaluate the Talaris Demonstrator (TD) during level walking by mapping coordination patterns based on the sagittal continuous relative phase (CRP).
Individuals with a unilateral transtibial amputation, transfemoral amputation and able-bodied individuals completed 6 minutes of treadmill walking in consecutive blocks of 2 minutes at self-selected (SS) speed, 75% SS speed and 125% SS speed. Lower extremity kinematics were captured and hip-knee and knee-ankle CRPs were calculated. Statistical non-parametric mapping was applied and statistical significance was set at 0.05.
The hip-knee CRP at 75% SS walking speed with the TD was larger in the amputated limb of participants with a transfemoral amputation compared to able-bodied individuals at the beginning and end of the gait cycle (p = 0.009). In people with a transtibial amputation, the knee-ankle CRP at SS and 125% SS walking speeds with the TD were smaller in the amputated limb at the beginning of the gait cycle compared to able-bodied individuals (p = 0.014 and p = 0.014, respectively). Additionally, no significant differences were found between both prostheses. However, visual interpretation indicates a potential advantage of the TD over the individual's current prosthesis.
This study provides lower-limb coordination patterns in people with a lower-limb amputation and reveals a possible beneficial effect of the TD over the individuals' current prosthesis. Future research should include a well-sampled investigation of the adaptation process combined with the prolonged effects of the TD.
为了改善下肢截肢者的假肢步态，开发了一种机械踝足假肢（Talaris 演示器）。本研究旨在通过基于矢状面连续相对相位（CRP）映射协调模式来评估 Talaris 演示器（TD）在水平行走时的性能。
单侧胫骨截肢、股骨截肢和健全个体分别以自身选择的速度（SS）、75%SS 速度和 125%SS 速度连续进行 6 分钟的跑步机行走，每次 2 分钟。采集下肢运动学数据，计算髋关节-膝关节和膝关节-踝关节 CRP。应用统计非参数映射，统计显著性水平设为 0.05。
在 75%SS 速度下，与健全个体相比，股骨截肢者使用 TD 时，假肢侧髋关节-膝关节 CRP 在步态周期的开始和结束时更大（p=0.009）。对于胫骨截肢者，在 SS 和 125%SS 速度下，使用 TD 时，假肢侧膝关节-踝关节 CRP 在步态周期的开始时较小（p=0.014 和 p=0.014）。此外，两种假肢之间没有发现显著差异。然而，视觉解释表明 TD 可能优于个体当前的假肢。
本研究提供了下肢截肢者的下肢协调模式，并揭示了 TD 对个体当前假肢可能具有有益的影响。未来的研究应包括对适应过程的充分采样调查，并结合 TD 的长期效果。
