Introduction. Unicompartmental arthroplasty of the knee in patients with isolated medial osteoarthritis gives good results, but survival is inferior to that of total knee prosthesis. Knees may fail because positioning of the prosthesis has been suboptimal. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the tibial slope on the rate of wear of a medial fixed-bearing unicompartmental kn...

In this human study, the effect of the slope changes in moving surfaces on four muscle fatigue cases of lower limbs was investigated using surface electromyography. Zero, 10 and 20 degree slopes of a treadmill with a fixed speed of 5 km/h were used. Seven mature men were selected. Each man walked on the treadmill at each slope for five minutes. Then, muscle signals were recorded before and afte...

We studied the feasibility of estimating walking speed using a shank-mounted inertial measurement unit. Our approach took advantage of the inverted pendulum-like behavior of the stance leg during walking to identify a new method for dividing up walking into individual stride cycles and estimating the initial conditions for the direct integration of the accelerometer and gyroscope signals. To te...

The oxygen cost of transport per unit distance (CoT; mL·kg(-1)·km(-1)) shows a U-shaped curve as a function of walking speed (v), which includes a particular walking speed minimizing the CoT, so called economical speed (ES). The CoT-v relationship in running is approximately linear. These distinctive walking and running CoT-v relationships give an intersection between U-shaped and linear CoT re...

BACKGROUND Knee pain (KP) causes gait difficulties in older adults and is associated with slow gait speed (GS). Obesity has negative effects on health. GS is an important indicator of health, well-being, and mean life span in older adults and is a strong predictor of future disability and mortality. The relationship between frequent KP, obesity, and GS in older adults remains unclear. Therefore...

PURPOSE This study compared cognitive (attention, learning, and memory) and typing outcomes during slow treadmill walking or sitting. Seventy-five healthy individuals were randomly assigned to a treadmill walking group (n=37; 23 female) or sitting group (n=38; 17 female). METHODS The treadmill walking group completed a series of tests while walking at 1.5 mph. The sitting group performed the ...

Humanoid and walking robots have been widely developed and their use in human environments is not far out of reach. The main problems in practical applications of machine walking are energy consumption, complex control and design, and high cost. The main feasible indoor application of a walking machine is that of a humanoid robot as a companion, nurse, guide, or information desk or reception cl...

Quadrupedal robots working outdoors are very slow robots prone to tumble down in the presence of perturbations. This paper presents a novel gaitadaptation method that enables walking-machine gaits to autonomously adapt to environmental perturbations, including the slope of the terrain, by finding the gait parameters that maximize robot’s dynamic stability. Experiments with the SILO4 quadruped r...

A pneumatic exoskeleton intended to decrease the muscle activity of the knee extensors during walking on a negative slope is presented. The device consists of an air spring that can be engaged and disengaged via a solenoid valve. When engaged, the air spring resists knee flexion. A preliminary evaluation of the device was conducted with a single healthy subject. During testing, the EMG activity...

In humans, walking and running represent the most studied locomotion forms. The motorized treadmill has always been a very useful scientific tool, because it allows administer a variety of speed/slope combinations, which is not always easy-to-find in nature. The purpose of this short communication is to help improve the scientific use of the treadmill and explain some simple kinematics variable...