Mechanics of walking and running up and downhill: A joint-level perspective to guide design of lower-limb exoskeletons

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 8; p. e0231996
• Main Authors: Nuckols, Richard W., Takahashi, Kota Z., Farris, Dominic J., Mizrachi, Sarai, Riemer, Raziel, Sawicki, Gregory S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 28.08.2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Ankle; Ankle - physiology; Ankle Joint - physiology; Artificial legs; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomechanical Phenomena; Biomechanics; Braking; Clinical trials; Electric power generation; Energy; Energy transfer; Exoskeleton; Exoskeleton Device - trends; Exoskeletons; Female; Fitness equipment; Gait; Gait - physiology; Gait Analysis - methods; Health aspects; Hip; Hip - physiology; Hip Joint - physiology; Humans; Industrial engineering; Joints (anatomy); Kinematics; Knee; Knee - physiology; Knee Joint - physiology; Laboratories; Locomotion; Lower Extremity - physiology; Male; Mechanical properties; Mechanics; Mechanics (physics); Medicine and Health Sciences; Metabolism; Muscle, Skeletal - physiology; Physiological aspects; Physiological research; Physiology; Regenerative braking; Robotics; Robotics - instrumentation; Running; Running - physiology; Treadmills; Velocity; Walking; Walking - physiology; Wearable technology; United States; Israel; Georgia; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US

Lower-limb wearable robotic devices can improve clinical gait and reduce energetic demand in healthy populations. To help enable real-world use, we sought to examine how assistance should be applied in variable gait conditions and suggest an approach derived from knowledge of human locomotion mechan...