Computer Simulation of Normal and Abnormal Human Walking

Human gait is typically studied with clinical observation or in a gait laboratory. The first approach is rapid but subjective and limited. The second, while it is experimentally rigorous and provides voluminous amounts of quantitative data, is time consuming and expensive. Computer simulation may offer an alternative approach for both the analysis of normal gait as well as in modeling the effects of changes in joint mechanics, muscle strength, and orthotics use. Current simulation techniques, however, are limited in their ability to model the complex analysis necessary to study gait when it is altered by an abnormal joint or the compensatory actions of the body and other joints. Numerical presentations alone do not permit an intuitive understanding of modeling trials. Graphical presentation, on the other hand, has much to offer in that it presents the overall pattern of gait in a manner that is easy to assimilate.