Estimation of the forces generated by the thigh muscles for transtibial amputee gait

The forces generated by the muscles with origin on the human femur play a major role in transtibial amputee gait, as they are the most effective of the means that the body can use for propulsion. By estimating the forces generated by the thigh muscles of transtibial amputees, and comparing them to the forces generated by the thigh muscles of normal subjects, it is possible to better estimate the energy output needed from prosthetic devices. The purpose of this paper is to obtain the forces generated by the thigh muscles of transtibial amputees and compare these with forces obtained from the same muscles in the case of normal subjects. Two transtibial amputees and four normal subjects similar in size to the amputees were investigated. Level ground walking was chosen as the movement to be studied, since it is a common activity that most amputees engage in. Inverse dynamics and a muscle recruitment algorithm (developed by AnyBody Technology®) were used for generating the muscle activation patterns and for computing the muscle forces. The muscle forces were estimated as two sums: one for all posterior muscles and one for the anterior muscles, based on the position of the muscles of the thigh relative to the frontal plane of the human body. The results showed that a significantly higher force is generated by the posterior muscles of the amputees during walking, leading to a general increase of the metabolic cost necessary for one step.