Walking Support Orthosis with an Lower Thigh Rotation Mechanism for Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

摘要

Knee osteoarthritis is a disease caused by age related muscle weakness, obesity, or sport injury, and it has been estimated that approximately every second person may experience it by the age of 85. Most cases of knee-OA lead to gait problems due to the pain during walking, consequently knee-OA is a significant cause of reduced personal quality of life (QOL). One of the characteristics of knee-OA is rotation dyskinesia of the knee joint due to the degeneration of the system around the knee. In the present study, we focused on the rotation of the tibia relative to the movement of the ankle joint during walking, and we developed a mechanical orthosis as the new type of ankle-foot orthosis (AFO), which induces rotation of the lower thigh in conjunction with the movement of the ankle joint. We verified the effectiveness of the developed orthosis by measuring the angle of rotation and the bone behavior on three subjects, who performed walking motion while wearing medial wedge for imitating OA patient.