This study investigated the clinical feasibility of combining the electromechanical gait trainer Lokomat with functional electrical therapy (LokoFET), stimulating the common peroneal nerve during the swing phase of the gait cycle to correct foot drop as an integrated part of gait therapy. Five patients with different acquired brain injuries trained with LokoFET 2-3 times a week for 3-4 weeks. P...

A knee brace for medial knee osteoarthritis (OA) is required to restrict knee adduction moment (KAM), but must not restrict knee flexion during swing phase. There is no report of a knee brace with both functions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the custom-made hinged knee brace for patients with knee OA compared to the hinged knee brace generally used, and to assess th...

The effect of the heel lift to correct a limb length difference was studied by electrogoniometry (elgons) in four male subjects with a limb length inequality between 3/~6 inch (0.48 cm) and 3h inch (0.95 cm). Six elgons were attached to bilateral hip, knee, and ankle joints as the subject walked (3 mph) and jogged (6 mph) on the treadmill twice, once with the heel lift and once without. Recordi...

The biomechanical characteristics of stiff knee gait following neurological injury include decreased knee flexion velocity at toe-off, which may be due to exaggerated quadriceps activity. The neuromuscular mechanism underlying this abnormal activity is unclear, although hyperexcitable heteronymous reflexes may be a source of impaired coordination. The present study examines the contribution of ...

Load-related afferent information modifies the magnitude and timing of hindlimb muscle activity during stepping in decerebrate animals and spinal cord-injured humans and animals, suggesting that the spinal cord mediates load-related locomotor responses. In this study, we found that stepping on a treadmill by adult rats that received complete, midthoracic spinal cord transections as neonates cou...

In this work a low power, low voltage and high gain operational amplifier is proposed. For this purpose a negative resistance structure is used in parallel with output to improve the achievable gain. Because of using self cascode transistors in the output, the proposed structure remains approximately constant in a relatively large output voltage swing causing an invariable gain. To evaluate the...

Spinal cord injury (SCI) can lead to changes in muscle activation patterns and atrophy of affected muscles. Moderate levels of SCI are typically associated with foot drag during the swing phase of locomotion. Foot drag is often used to assess locomotor recovery, but the causes remain unclear. We hypothesized that foot drag results from inappropriate muscle coordination preventing flexion at the...

This study aimed to clarify the mechanical gait changes caused by achilles tendinopathy by comparing gait parameters and changes in hip, knee, and ankle moments between an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG). Twenty runners with achilles tendinopathy were included in the EG (male/female: 10/10, age: 27.00 ± 4.63), and 20 CG (male/female: 10/10, age: 27.25 ± 4.33) participants were ...

The simultaneous control of the hindlimb paw-shake response and hindlimb walking at slow treadmill speeds (0.2-0.4 m/s) was examined in adult cats spinalized at the T12 level, 3-6 mo earlier. Paw shaking was elicited by either 1) application of adhesive tape or 2) water to the right hindpaw. To assess intralimb and interlimb coordination of the combined behaviors, activity from selected flexor ...

This paper demonstrates the phase imbalanced series capacitive compensation concept to enhance power system dynamics as it has the potential of damping power swing as well as sub synchronous resonance oscillations. A scheme for a phase imbalanced capacitive compensation is shown. It is a “hybrid” series compensation scheme, where the series capacitive compensation in one phase is created using ...