Abstract
Typical walking prostheses maintain stability during stance with a knee locking mechanism; i.e., a frictional device (mechanical brake) or free rotating knee joint (single pinned or multi-link system) held in a hyper-extended orientation (de Vries, 1995). Attempts to jog with a walking prosthesis are difficult and unsafe. A previous gait study of a “pogo-stick” A/K jogging prosthesis found that the device provided alternating periods of support and non-support between the amputated and non-amputated sides, but required greater energy expenditure from the intact limb and induced larger impact loads (DiAngelo et al., 1989). A computer modeling technique was used to design a multi-link above-knee (A/K) prosthesis that provided continuous, controlled knee flexion during weight bearing and free knee rotation during swing. Aspects of the design were improved energy expenditure, symmetrical gait, and reduced impact loading. Biomechanical data for the computation model was obtained from a gait study of an A/K amputee jogger. The objective of the study was to develop prosthetic knee that provided continuous knee flexion throughout weight bearing and free rotation during swing.
