Gait motion analysis in the unrestrained condition of trans-femoral amputee with a prosthetic limb

Trans-femoral amputees must regain moving pattern by refined rehabilitation program using ground reaction forces, joint angles and joint moments applied on a prosthetic limb. On the other hand, understanding those loads and kinematic variables is indispensable for gait analysis based on the biomechanical consideration of trans-femoral amputees. However, conventional prosthetic gait training systems cannot measure long continuous walking motions. In this paper, ground reaction forces and kinematic parameters applied on trans-femoral prosthesis are measured by the prosthetic gait motion analysis system using mobile force plate and attitude sensor for the unrestrained gait measurement. As a result of the experiments, the patterns of antero-posterior axis ground reaction forces and joint moments about the medio-lateral axis are remarkably different among the five activities. Finally, the effectiveness of the developed prosthetic gait training system to consider biomechanics and kinematics in trans-femoral prosthesis is validated.