Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Biarticular Muscles Influence Postural Responses: Implications For Treatment Of Stiff-Knee Gait, Ashley Elizabeth Clark

Masters Theses

Stiff knee gait is a prevalent and troublesome movement disorder among children with cerebral palsy, where peak knee flexion is diminished during swing phase. Rectus femoris transfer surgery, a common treatment for stiff-knee gait, reattaches the distal tendon of this biarticular, or two joint, muscle to a new site, such as the sartorius insertion on the tibia. Biarticular muscles play a unique role in motor control. As a biarticular muscle, rectus femoris may offer unrecognized benefits to maintain balance. This study uses musculoskeletal modeling and simulation to investigate the role of this biarticular muscle on balance recovery following support-surface translations. …

Comparative Study On Posture And Its Influences On Horizontal Ground Reaction Forces Generated By Muscles: Implications For Crouch Gait, Hoa Xuan Hoang

Masters Theses

Crouch gait decreases walking efficiency due to the increased knee and hip flexion during the stance phase of gait. Crouch gait is generally considered to be disadvantageous for patients with cerebral palsy; however, a crouched posture may afford biomechanical advantages that lead some patients to adopt a crouch gait.

To investigate one possible advantage of crouch gait, a musculoskeletal model created in OpenSim was placed in 15 different postures from upright to severe crouch during initial, middle, and final stance of the gait cycle. A series of optimizations were performed for each posture to maximize ground reaction forces for the …