Abstract
Swimming is a suitable sport for physically disabled, since the gravity is canceled by buoyancy in water and the whole body can be trained through it. However, physical disability may worsen swimming form and body balance. In this paper, the effect of amputation of the upper limb on the front crawl swimming was first analyzed by simulation, since the front crawl swimming is the most common swimming stroke and its thrust is mainly generated by the upper limb motion. Next, a swimming orthosis which compensates for the effect of amputation was designed by an optimization method for the above-elbow amputation. Finally, the swimming orthosis was manufactured based on the result of optimization and its validity was confirmed by subjective experiment.
