The gait patterns of unilateral below-knee amputees wearing prostheses with either a SACH foot or a single axis foot were compared. A temporary below-knee prosthesis was fabricated for each subject using plaster of Paris and Plastazote for the socket, a pylon and an artificial foot. Eight subjects were filmed at two separate sessions, one in which the SACH foot was worn on their prosthesis and ...

©2006 British Editorial Society of Bone and Joint Surgery doi:10.1302/0301-620X.88B2. 16381 $2.00 J Bone Joint Surg [Br] 2006;88-B:141-8. Functional fracture bracing, described in 1967, 1 was inspired by the patellar-tendonbearing prosthesis which had recently been developed for below-knee amputees. This prosthesis had eliminated the traditional thigh corset and allowed the transfer of weight-b...

The normal human running has been simulated by two-dimensional biped model with 7 segments. Series of normal running experiments were performed and data of ground reaction forces measured by force plate was analyzed and was fitted to some Fourier series. The model is capable to simulate running for different ages and weights at different running speeds. A proportional derivative control algorit...

1 State Supervisor of Prosthetic Services, Ministry of Social Affairs, Helsinki, Finland. THE loss of a limb and its replacement by a prosthesis create conditions deviating from the normal. Walking is always more difficult. Loon (2) found that the energy consumption of amputees increases with the level of amputation. In the case of an above-knee amputation the effort of walking is greater than ...

A study is reported on the value of a modified KBM prosthesis compared with other types of prostheses. Recently a new type of below-knee prosthesis (the so called modified KBM prosthesis) was introduced in the Netherlands. This prosthesis is now frequently used as a substitute for more conventional types. A study was carried out on the value of this new prosthesis, compared with the more conven...

Prosthetic assemblies for lower limb amputees are highly engineered and consist of several components each with its own failure mechanism. This paper describes the dynamic testing of HDPE rotational moulded sockets in a specially designed machine which mimics normal gait. Thus the components are subjected to all main loadings occurring during a stride such as axial loading and A-P bending about...

The first and most obvious requirement of any below-knee prosthesis is to furnish a suitable extension of the stump to the ground in such a way as to provide adequate support for the body weight with as little involvement as possible of other parts of the residual anatomy. In the interest of appearance as well as of function, there is a need secondarily for some reasonably faithful simulation o...