An artificial gastrocnemius for a transtibial prosthesis

• Main Authors: Swart, E. (Contributor), Endo, Ken (Contributor), Herr, Hugh M. (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media Laboratory (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2010-03-10T20:48:46Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

A transtibial amputee does not have a functional gastrocnemius muscle, which affects the knee as well as the ankle joint. In this investigation, we developed a transtibial prosthesis comprising an artificial gastrocnemius mechanism as well as a powered ankle-foot device. A pilot study was conducted with a bilateral transtibial amputee walking at a self-selected speed. The trial compared muscle electromyography and metabolic cost data for the amputee while using the active gastrocnemius prosthesis and a conventional Flex-Foot prosthesis. The experimental data showed that the compensation for ankle-foot and gastrocnemius function offered by the active device resulted in a reduced metabolic cost for the amputee participant.