R. Tscheuschner et al., POSSIBILITIES OF A QUANTITATIVELY-BASED G AIT ANALYSIS EXEMPLIFIED BYAN ASSESSMENT OF A PROSTHESIS FITTING, Biomedizinische Technik, 39(6), 1994, pp. 156-161
Nowadays, the fitting of a lower-limb prosthesis is done mainly on an
empirical basis. The main aim of the present study was to provide obje
ctive data and presentations to support the subjective data. With the
aid of a cybernetic statement, the process of fitting a prosthesis to
a human subject was developed as a self-optimizing control cycle. Usin
g this systematic scheme, the walking trial was identified as the proc
ess element of this control cycle in which the fitting proper took pla
ce. Starting with this systematic scheme, the characteristics of defin
ed changes to the system human-prosthesis during walking were measured
with the aid of a specially configured gait analysis system. For the
estimation of the characteristics of the measured walking trial, a thr
ee stage parameter system based initially only on the angle, velocity
and acceleration curves at the knee joint was developed. On the basis
of pattern recognition routines, the parameter system permits a very h
igh level of identification of the measurements. The identification of
poor fittings not covered by the pattern recognition system is not ye
t satisfactory. However, with the incorporation of additional gait par
ameters, it will be possible to further improve the description of the
gait, enabling better recognition of disturbances in the human-prosth
esis system.