Abstract

In this work an attempt is made to derive suitable models to investigate the effect of the joints constrained on human gait due to wearing bracing devices at lower limbs. Linkages concept are used to model the leg segments and evaluate GRF and friction force. Three models for normal, AFO and KAFO are presented. The presented models are semi analytic since some input data are needed to be evaluated experimentally. In this regard the joint angles are evaluated from video analysis of individual walking on Treadmill. KINOVEA program is used to track the joints angles for the stance phase of gait cycle, and the MATLAB program is used to estimate the angular displacement as a function of time. To validate the results some experiments on force plate were conducted for the three mentioned cases. The results showed good agreements and that the suggested models are succeeded for describing the human gait parameters for normal and abnormal gait.