Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness in early post operative rehabilitation of a dynamic joint control training machine, toe-heel pedal exercise machine, recently developed for lower limb joint orthopedic patients, such as those receiving artificial hip and artificial knee replacement surgery. Currently, early exercises take place on the bed, and are principally open kinetic chain exercises for strengthening the femoral quadriceps muscle. Looking to improve recovery time and speed discharge from hospital, we investigated apparatus and exercise therapy methods involving closed kinetic chain exercises which resemble those of activities of daily living, and developed the toe-heel pedal exercise machine.In order to study the effect electromyographically, we made a comparison of the iEMGs of 24 legs of 12 healthy males, at the start of action in toe-heel pedaling and flat pedaling, targeting the quadriceps femoris (vastus medialis) and sole of the foot muscle (flexor digitrum brevis). The results confirmed that at the start of action in toe-heel pedaling there was large muscle activity in both muscles, and we concluded that the toe-heel pedal exercise machine could be used for clinical applications.
