Identification of Gait-Cycle Phases for Prosthesis Control

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Rehabilitation Engineering
• Prosthetics

Background:

• Transfemoral prostheses struggle to compensate for lost knee joint function.
• Accurate gait-cycle phase identification is crucial for effective prosthesis control.
• Restoring proprioception is key for amputees to regain natural walking ability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel method for identifying gait-cycle phases under various walking conditions.
• To develop a control logic for active/semiactive transfemoral prostheses based on gait phase recognition.
• To enhance patient awareness of lower-limb posture and current gait phase.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a load sensor to detect gait-cycle events and walking conditions.
• Analyzed variations in gait parameters to identify different phases of the gait cycle.
• Validated the proposed method using existing gait-cycle data from literature.

Main Results:

• Successfully identified gait-cycle phases across different walking conditions.
• The proposed method provides a foundation for advanced prosthetic control systems.
• Demonstrated the feasibility of using load sensor data for gait analysis.

Conclusions:

• The proposed load-sensing method offers a viable approach for gait-cycle phase identification in transfemoral prostheses.
• This technique can significantly contribute to the development of more intuitive and responsive prosthetic devices.
• Improved gait phase recognition is a critical step towards restoring proprioception and enhancing mobility for amputees.