47 Kinematics of Upper Extremity and Walking Frame Ambulation

This study provides the development of an instrumented walker which is focused on the forces transferred through the resultant loads of the subject hand and upper extremity kinematics. Based on the theoretical and experimental studies, a novel system is proposed in the walking aids that are capable of reducing the stress experienced by the subject without changing the usage pattern of the walker. The bilateral upper extremity kinematics and kinetics data are acquired through Qualisys motion capturing which incorporate with Visual3D motion analysis system. These experiments are carried out with seven healthy subjects, right handed young adults and elderly. By employing the experimental data, a walker support system was developed and verified the design using the same subjects through repeated experimentation. Substantial changes of resultant forces are observed for walker support system implementation.