william brett johnson, phd; stefania fatone, phd, bpo(hons); steven a. gard, phd

This article and any supplementary material should be cited as follows: Johnson WB, Fatone S, Gard SA. Modeling effects of sagittal-plane hip joint stiffness on reciprocating gait orthosis-assisted gait. J Rehabil Res Dev. 2013;50(10):1449–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1682/JRRD.2013.01.0013

Slideshow ProjectDOI:10.1682/JRRD.2013.01.0013JSP

Modeling effects of sagittal-plane hip joint stiffness on reciprocating

gait orthosis-assisted gait

William Brett Johnson, PhD; Stefania Fatone, PhD, BPO(Hons); Steven A. Gard, PhD



• Aim– Determine effects of increased hip joint stiffness on gait of

nondisabled persons using lower-limb paralysis simulator (LLPS).• LLPS enabled nondisabled persons to exhibit characteristics of

reciprocating gait orthosis (RGO)-assisted gait

• Relevance– Upright ambulation may improve quality of life for persons

with lower-limb paralysis. • However, walking with RGO can be slow and exhausting.• Increased RGO hip joint stiffness may improve gait efficiency.



Method• While nondisabled

subjects walked with LLPS at four different hip joint stiffness settings, we measured:– Hip flexion.– Crutch ground reaction

forces (GRFs).– Oxygen consumption.

LLPS.



Results• Walking speed was observed to initially increase

with increases in hip joint stiffness, and then decrease.

• Oxygen cost was observed to initially decrease with increases in hip joint stiffness, and then decrease.



Conclusion

• Findings suggest that increasing hip joint stiffness may increase walking speed for RGO users.

william brett johnson, phd; stefania fatone, phd, bpo(hons); steven a. gard, phd

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