BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Although gait training is prominent in the rehabilitation of hemiparetic stroke patients, little is known about its outcome and prognostic factors in mildly affected patients. We therefore intended to assess gait in ambulatory stroke patients before and after a 4-week inpatient rehabilitation program based on the neurodevelopmental technique. METHODS We measured vertica...

The purposes of this study were (a) to determine group and individual differences in oxygen consumption during heel-toe running and (b) to quantify the differences in EMG activity for selected muscle groups of the lower extremities when running in shoes with different mechanical heel characteristics. Twenty male runners performed heel-toe running using two shoe conditions, one with a mainly ela...

objectives: foot and ankle problems are common complications in rheumatoid arthritis disease. gait pattern such as normal foot and ankle rocker is impaired in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. rocker sole as an external shoe modification is commonly prescribed in this pathology. the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of rocker shoe on vertical ground reaction force parameters dur...

Walking is a complex motor task generally performed automatically by healthy adults. Yet, by the elderly, walking is often no longer performed automatically. Older adults require more attention for motor control while walking than younger adults. Falls, often with serious consequences, can be the result. Gait impairments are one of the biggest risk factors for falls. Several studies have identi...

Adequate knee flexion velocity at toe-off is important for achieving normal swing-phase knee flexion during gait. Consequently, insufficient knee flexion velocity at toe-off can contribute to stiff-knee gait, a movement abnormality in which swing-phase knee flexion is diminished. This work aims to identify the muscles that contribute to knee flexion velocity during double support in normal gait...

BACKGROUND Excessive pronation (or eversion) at ankle joint in heel-toe running correlated with lower extremity overuse injuries. Orthotics and inserts are often prescribed to limit the pronation range to tackle the problem. Previous studies revealed that the effect is product-specific. This study investigated the effect of medial arch-heel support in inserts on reducing ankle eversion in stand...

This article describes a method for designing humanoid robots and generating their dynamic gaits. Firstly, the global design process which defines structures able to carry out dynamic locomotion tasks is explained. Secondly, a set of leg and foot mechanisms are described to perform these tasks. A method of producing intrinsic smooth motions for fast walking gaits of bipedal robots with differen...

OBJECTIVES To examine changes in the pattern of force transfer between the foot and the floor associated with chronically sprained ankles by measuring the peak forces and their timing under several regions of the feet during level walking. METHODS Twelve young male subjects (mean (SD) age 21 (2) years) with recurrent ankle sprains were studied. Seven of them had unilateral and bilateral chron...

Loading response challenges the limb with the dual demands of accepting rapidly moving body weight to both absorb the shock of floor contact and create a stable limb over which the body can advance. Delay in achieving foot flat contact with the floor causes a prolonged period of heel only support and results in an unstable base of support for those persons with transtibial amputations. The purp...