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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Opensim Versus Human Body Model: A Comparison Study For The Lower Limbs During Gait, Antoine Falisse, Sam Van Rossom, Johannes Gijsbers, Frans Steenbrink, Ben J. Van Basten, Ilse Jonkers, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert, Friedl De Groote Dec 2018

Opensim Versus Human Body Model: A Comparison Study For The Lower Limbs During Gait, Antoine Falisse, Sam Van Rossom, Johannes Gijsbers, Frans Steenbrink, Ben J. Van Basten, Ilse Jonkers, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert, Friedl De Groote

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Musculoskeletal modeling and simulations have become popular tools for analyzing human movements. However, end users are often not aware of underlying modeling and computational assumptions. This study investigates how these assumptions affect biomechanical gait analysis outcomes performed with Human Body Model and the OpenSim gait2392 model. The authors compared joint kinematics, kinetics, and muscle forces resulting from processing data from 7 healthy adults with both models. Although outcome variables had similar patterns, there were statistically significant differences in joint kinematics (maximal difference: 9.8 degrees {[}1.5 degrees] in sagittal plane hip rotation), kinetics (maximal difference: 0.36 {[}0.10] N.m/kg in sagittal plane …


Feasibility Of Using An Equilibrium Point Strategy To Control Reaching Movements Of Paralyzed Arms With Functional Electrical Stimulation, Matthew Huffman Jan 2018

Feasibility Of Using An Equilibrium Point Strategy To Control Reaching Movements Of Paralyzed Arms With Functional Electrical Stimulation, Matthew Huffman

ETD Archive

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a technology capable of improving the quality of life for those with the loss of limb movement related to spinal cord injuries. Individuals with high-level tetraplegia, in particular, have lost all movement capabilities below the neck. FES has shown promise in bypassing spinal cord damage by sending electrical impulses directly to a nerve or muscle to trigger a desired function. Despite advancements in FES, full-arm reaching motions have not been achieved, leaving patients unable to perform fundamental tasks such as eating and grooming. To overcome the inability in current FES models to achieve multi-joint coordination, …


Characterizing The Effects Of High-Intensity Exercise On Balance And Gait Under Dual-Task Conditions In Parkinson’S Disease, El Iva Baron Jan 2018

Characterizing The Effects Of High-Intensity Exercise On Balance And Gait Under Dual-Task Conditions In Parkinson’S Disease, El Iva Baron

ETD Archive

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by four cardinal motor symptoms including bradykinesia, tremor, rigidity, and postural instability, and non-motor symptoms including cognitive impairment. Daily activities, such as walking and maintaining balance, are impacted due to impairments in motor function, and are further exacerbated with the addition of cognitive loading, or dual-tasking (DT). High-intensity exercise has demonstrated centrally-mediated improvements of PD symptoms, with additional positive effects on overall health. The goal of this project was to identify changes in dynamic balance recovery and gait function under conditions with and without increased cognitive load after a high-intensity exercise intervention …


Neuromuscular Reflex Control For Prostheses And Exoskeletons, Sandra K. Hnat Jan 2018

Neuromuscular Reflex Control For Prostheses And Exoskeletons, Sandra K. Hnat

ETD Archive

Recent powered lower-limb prosthetic and orthotic (P/O) devices aim to restore legged mobility for persons with an amputation or spinal cord injury. Though various control strategies have been proposed for these devices, specifically finite-state impedance controllers, natural gait mechanics are not usually achieved. The goal of this project was to invent a biologically-inspired controller for powered P/O devices. We hypothesize that a more muscle-like actuation system, including spinal reflexes and vestibular feedback, can achieve able-bodied walking and also respond to outside perturbations. The outputs of the Virtual Muscle Reflex (VMR) controller are joint torque commands, sent to the electric motors …


Predictive Simulations Of Gait And Their Application In Prosthesis Design, Anne D. Koelewijin Jan 2018

Predictive Simulations Of Gait And Their Application In Prosthesis Design, Anne D. Koelewijin

ETD Archive

Predictive simulations predict human gait by solving a trajectory optimization problem by minimizing energy expenditure. These simulations could predict the effect of a prosthesis on gait before its use. This dissertation has four aims, to show the application of predictive simulations in prosthesis design and to improve the quality of predictive simulations. Aim 1 was to explain joint moment asymmetry in the knee and hip in gait of persons with a transtibial amputation (TTA gait). Predictive simulations showed that an asymmetric gait required less effort. However, a small effort increase yielded a gait with increased joint moment symmetry and reduced …


Real-Time Assessment And Visual Feedback For Patient Rehabilitation Using Inertial Sensors, Deepa Adinarayanan Jan 2018

Real-Time Assessment And Visual Feedback For Patient Rehabilitation Using Inertial Sensors, Deepa Adinarayanan

ETD Archive

Rehabilitation exercises needs have been continuously increasing and have been projected to increase in future as well based on its demand for aging population, recovering from surgery, injury and illness and the living and working lifestyle of the people. This research aims to tackle one of the most critical issues faced by the exercise administers-Adherence or Non-Adherence to Home Exercise problems especially has been a significant issue resulting in extensive research on the psychological analysis of people involved. In this research, a solution is provided to increase the adherence of such programs through an automated real-time assessment with constant visual …