http://www.jneuroengrehab.com/content/9/1/60/abstract
Abstract (provisional)
Background
In clinical gait assessment, the correct interpretation of gait kinematics and kinetics
has a decisive impact on the success of the therapeutic programme. Due to the vast
amount of information from which primary anomalies should be identified and separated
from secondary compensatory changes, as well as the biomechanical complexity and redundancy
of the human locomotion system, this task is considerably challenging and requires
the attention of an experienced interdisciplinary team of experts. The ongoing research
in the field of biomechanics suggests that mathematical modeling may facilitate this
task. This paper explores the possibility of generating a family of toe walking gait
patterns by systematically changing selected parameters of a feedback-controlled model.
Methods
From the selected clinical case of toe walking we identified typical toe walking characteristics
and encoded them as a set of gait-oriented control objectives to be achieved in a
feedback-controlled walking model. They were defined as fourth order polynomials and
imposed via feedback control at the within-step control level. At the between-step
control level, stance leg lengthening velocity at the end of the single support phase
was adaptively adjusted after each step so as to facilitate gait velocity control.
Each time the gait velocity settled at the desired value, selected intra-step gait
characteristics were modified by adjusting the polynomials so as to mimic the effect
of a typical therapeutical intervention - inhibitory casting.
Results
By systematically adjusting the set of control parameters we were absle to generate
a family of gait kinematic and kinetic patterns that exhibit similar principal toe
walking characteristics, as they were recorded by means of an instrumented gait analysis
system in the selected clinical case of toe walking. We further acknowledge that they
to some extent follow similar improvement tendencies as those which one can identify
in gait kinematics and kinetics in the selected clinical case after inhibitory casting.
Conclusions
The proposed walking model that is based on a two-level control strategy has the ability
to generate different gait kinematics and kinetics when the set of control parameters
that define walking premises change. Such a framework does not have only educational
value, but may also prove to have practical implications in pathological gait diagnostics
and treatment.
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