Plantar pressure analysis of above-knee amputee with a developed microprocessor-controlled prosthetic knee.

Abstract

Human gait motion analysis was one useful method for lower limb prosthesis study. The most often measured parameters were plantar pressure, kinetic and kinematic parameters. It was indispensable for prosthetic knee design and performance assessment. The aim of this study was to analysis the plantar pressure in traumatic above-knee amputee equipped with a developed microprocessor-controlled prosthetic knee. The maximum force of forefoot and rearfoot, the average vertical reaction force and pressure and the centre of pressure (COP) offset trajectories of ten above-knee amputees under different walking speeds were obtained. Both forefoot and rearfoot force were bigger in intact leg than prosthetic leg. As the speed increased, the pressure increased in both sides. Forefoot bore more pressure than rearfoot in both legs. The average vertical pressure and force both increased along with the increase of speed. The force and pressure of intact side were always bigger than the prosthetic side. The trend of COP and gait line of the prosthetic and intact side had no significant difference. The length of the gait line of prosthetic side was greater than the intact side. The results of this study exhibited reduced plantar pressure in the prosthetic side. The typical butterfly diagrams were produced during different walking speeds. It indicated that the stability of the microprocessor-controlled prosthetic knee could be guaranteed.