Unrestrained kinetic analysis of trans-femoral prosthetic gait using wearable six-axis force/moment sensor

Trans-femoral amputees must regain moving pattern by refined rehabilitation program using loads applied on a prosthetic limb. On the other hand, understanding those loads is indispensable for biomechanical consideration of trans-femoral amputees. However, conventional prosthetic gait training systems cannot measure long continuous walking motions. In this paper, loads applied on trans-femoral prosthesis are measured and analyzed by the prosthetic gait training system for the unrestrained gait measurement. As a result of the experiments, the patterns of antero-posterior forces and joint moments of ankle and knee in the sagittal plane are remarkably different among the six activities. Finally, the effectiveness of the developed prosthetic gait training system to analyze kinetics in trans-femoral prosthesis is validated.