Prostheses alignment: effect on gait of persons with below-knee amputations

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Rehabilitation Engineering
• Prosthetics and Orthotics

Background:

• Gait analysis is crucial for prosthetic rehabilitation.
• Quantifying gait symmetry aids in assessing prosthetic function.
• Prosthetic alignment significantly impacts lower limb biomechanics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of prosthetic alignment on gait symmetry in individuals with lower limb amputations.
• To develop and validate symmetry indices for assessing prosthetic alignment.
• To identify sensitive gait parameters for optimizing prosthetic alignment.

Main Methods:

• Collected 3D angular kinematic data from hips and knees using electrogoniometers during walking.
• Developed time and frequency domain indices to quantify lower limb gait symmetry.
• Evaluated symmetry measures across various prosthetic alignment settings for below-knee prostheses.

Main Results:

• Optimal or neutral prosthetic alignment settings minimized gait asymmetry at the hips and knees.
• Prosthetic foot alignment changes caused greater gait disruption than other alignment adjustments.
• Hip flexion-extension motion asymmetry was most sensitive to prosthetic alignment variations.

Conclusions:

• Symmetry indices can effectively assess gait changes due to prosthetic alignment.
• Clinical alignment choices tend to optimize gait symmetry.
• Selected symmetry indices show potential for guiding prosthetic alignment in rehabilitation.