Analysis of a Periodic Force Applied to the Trunk to Assist Walking Gait

摘要

Past research has shown that a horizontal force applied to the trunk greatly assists the user's gait by reducing metabolic cost and reducing the horizontal ground reaction force. Different from the literature which describes a constant applied, horizontal force, the authors hypothesized that a horizontal tether force will not be constant but will oscillate due to the periodic nature of human walking gait. This hypothesis was tested by analyzing the tether force, ground reaction forces, and gait kinematics and kinetics of six able-bodied human participants. An assistive device was designed by attaching a spring-tether to the user's trunk and the other end was affixed to the treadmill. The user naturally found a position on the treadmill to stretch the spring tether. Multiple tethers with different stiffnesses were used. The subjects were asked to walk on a treadmill at 1.2 m.s