Biomechanical evaluation of two knee braces during level walking

• Main Authors: Chuen-Heh Lin, 林春鶴
• Other Authors: Fong-Chin Su;You-Li Chou
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 1993
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/52385798021968496294

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 醫學工程學系 === 81 === The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of two currently available rehabilitative knee braces on knee motion and to evaluate their ability of protection against the postoperative tissue. By the theory of Euler angle and finite helical axis and the use of 3-D motion analysis system,we could measure all six degrees of freedom (DOF) of knee motion during level walking. The experimental group consisted of seven left ACL-deficient patients. Six of them had received ligament reconstruction and the other one had received partial meniscectomy only because of partial tear of the ACL. Six normal subjects comprised the control group and all of them were free of any pathological change on the back or lower limbs that might have an effect of their gait. Four test conditions were investigated:(1) injured limb, (2) control limb, (3) injured limb with ROM splint, (4)injured limb with 4-Point brace. There were no apparent differences in the graphical patterns and amplitude values for any of the six DOF of knee movement between the two unbraced conditions. Among the three rotational angles,the change in knee flexion/extension was the largest and that in knee abduction/adduction was the smallest one. Among the three translational components,the change in the anterior/posterior translation was the largest and that in the medial/lateral translation was the smallest. We could note that the graphical patterns of five of the parameters(DOF)all had swing phase peaks that appeared time related to flexion/ extension. Both brace applications were shown to significantly reduce the values of all six parameters of knee motion ,which seemed to be more marked when ROM splint was used,but no noticeable changes could be found in the graphical patterns ,walking velocity and percentage of left or right stance phase in the gait cycle.