Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative condition that critically affects locomotor ability and quality of life and, the particularly prevalent in senior population. The current review presents gait biomechanics conceptual framework for designing active knee orthoses to prevent remediate OA. Constant excessive loading diminishes joint articular cartilage therefore, measures reduce kinetic st...

BACKGROUND Traditionally, the anatomical knee joint is locked in extension when walking with a conventional knee-ankle-foot orthosis. A powered knee-ankle-foot orthosis was developed to provide restriction of knee flexion during stance phase and active flexion and extension of the knee during swing phase of gait. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine differences of the powered ...

To evaluate the activity of knee stabilizing muscles while using custom-made biomechanical footwear (BF) and to compare it when walking barefoot with a brace (Unloader®). Seventeen healthy working-aged (mean age: 29 years; standard deviation: 8 years) individuals participated. The was worn on right BF in both legs. Surface electromyography (sEMG) data recorded bilaterally from vastus medialis (...

Ten participants without physical impairment walked with 0 kg, 11.5 kg, and 23.0 kg of added weight equally distributed about the torso in a harness. At each weight level, the participants walked at slow, normal, and fast self-selected walking speeds. We examined the roll-over characteristics by determining the ankle-foot and knee-ankle-foot roll-over shapes. These shapes, which are the effecti...

Background and highlights are presented concerning the development of a new orthotic system judged to be "the most outstanding innovation in prosthetics and/or orthotics practice" during the 1986-1989 period. The first Brian Blatchford Prize was awarded at the Sixth World Congress of ISPO held in Kobe, Japan. November 12-17, 1989. The new development selected as most deserving of this award con...