Influence of the Most Important Elements of the Prosthesis on Biomechanics of the Human Gait After Amputation of the Lower Limb

Abstract

Amputation is a medical procedure which involves removing a part of the human body and replacing it with a prosthesis. Amputation at the thigh level requires the use of an artificial knee joint, which is one of the most crucial elements of the prosthesis. This study aimed to examine and compare the biomechanics of walking of two persons after unilateral amputation of the lower limb at the thigh level. Both patients were provided with the same type of prosthetic foot. The difference was in the knee joint applied in the prosthesis. It is initially assumed that the kind of knee joint will have a significant impact on the gait quality of amputees. A biomechanical model created by the authors was used to calculate the gait determinants. The developed model includes the key joints for the human walk description – the ankle, knee and hip joints as well as the other anthropometric points. Measurements were done using the motion capture system. Each of the patients made 100 tests of their gait. For all considered parameters for single examined person summary graphs were created for all tests. The data coming from the literature were used as the reference data in this study. The obtained results show that the quality of the disease is not only dependent on the type of knee joint used. An essential thing is also a proper fitting of the prosthetic hopper, which significantly affects the individual gait determinants.