An analysis of human motor control during bipedal walking with passive knee orthoses

Abstract

The muscle-tendon units of human beings are helpful for minimizing the energy costs during walking. Therefore, proper use of characteristics of these units is effective for walking support and performance improvement. The knee orthosis proposed by the aurthors is composed of a ball screw and linear spring, and elastic energy during walking can be stored and reused. Walking experiments of the apparatus were carried out both on the flat ground and a slope, and the knee orthoses particularly reduced muscle activities for an upslope walking. Through the analysis of ankle equilibrium point trajectory and stiffness based on kinematics data and EMG signals, this study shows that the energy storage and reuse of the knee orthoses decreases muscle activities related to knee extension of radial direction during the stance phase and hip extension of argument direction during the swing phase.