Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research

Title

Active Functional Stiffness of the Knee Joint during Activities of Daily Living: A Parameter for Improved Design of Prosthetic Limbs

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Winter 12-2014

Abstract

Background: Exploring knee joint physiological functional stiffness is crucial for improving the design of prosthetic legs that aim to mimic normal gait. This study hypothesizes that knee joint stiffness varies among different activities of daily living, additionally while the knee performs natural movements; the magnitude of the stiffness indicates the degree of energy storage element sufficiency in terms of harvesting/returning energy. Methods: This study examined sagittal plane knee moment vs. knee flexion angle curves from 12 able-bodied subjects during activities of daily living. Slopes of these curves were assessed to find the calculated stiffness during the peak energy return and harvest phases so that the activities, which can be performed when the prosthetic knee is supplemented by a spring, were identified. Findings: For the energy return and harvest phases, the stiffness varied between 0.006 and 0.046 Nm/kg deg. and 0 and 0.052 Nm/kg deg. respectively. The optimum energy return phase stiffness was 0.024 (SD 0.013) Nm/kg deg. and energy harvest phase stiffness was 0.011 (SD 0.018) Nm/kg deg. Interpretation: Knee joint stiffness varied significantly during activities of daily living, which indicated that a storage unit with a constant stiffness would not be sufficient in providing energy regenerative gait during all activities. However, by controlling the amount and timing of spring compression and release, an energy-regenerative prosthetic knee device could be developed during most of the activities. This study was directed to the development of a complete data set, which determined the torque-angle properties of the healthy knee joint.(C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publication Title

Clinical Biomechanics

Volume

29

Issue

10

First Page

1193

Last Page

1199

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