Ground Reaction Force of Trilateral Amputee During Walking With and Without Upper Limb Prosthesis: Case Report

Abstract

AbstractBackground: Human walking has been extensively studied but less research has been done on the gait of trilateral amputee. Trilateral amputee is a person with three missing limbs. This study investigates the effect of upper limb prostheses on vertical ground reaction force of a trilateral amputee during level walking. A subject with bilateral transradial and unilateral transtibial amputation participated in this study. The subject wore prostheses both for upper and lower limb. Kristler force platform was used to collect data while the subject walked with and without upper limb prosthesis. The determined mean values of normalized components of trajectory of vertical ground reaction force were compared with able-bodied data. Three vertical GRF measures (F1, the first peak force; F2, minimum force; and F3, the second peak force) were extracted and analyzed. Ground reaction force, loading rate and unloading rate generated by the trilateral amputee is greater than able-bodied person. When donning upper limb prosthesis, the value of F1 and F3 increased by 11.93% and 9.90% respectively, but the value of F2 reduced by 8.75%. The gait of trilateral amputee wearing upper limb prosthesis were characterized by high impact peak, low force value during mid stance and steeper loading rate and unloading rate. The use of upper limb prostheses affects the vertical ground reaction force of trilateral amputee subject in this study during walking.KeywordsAdaptive gaitAmputee gaitGround reaction forceMultiple amputationProsthetic handTrilateral amputee