Design and Evaluation of an Adaptive Ground Contact Model

Ground reaction forces are the driving element of human gait. They are — in the form of forceplate measures — included in virtually all inverse dynamic analyses. While it is possible to base forward dynamic analyses on such measurements, it is preferable to model the foot-floor interactions such that simulations can be performed independent of experimental data. Such a representation then facilitates the use of simulations to predict how movement would change in response to an impairment or intervention.