Abstract
Exploring ankle joint physiologic functional stiffness is crucial for improving the
design of prosthetic feet that aim to mimic normal gait. We hypothesized that ankle
joint stiffness would vary among the different activities of daily living and that
the magnitude of the stiffness would indicate the degree of energy storage element
sufficiency in terms of harvesting and returning energy. We examined sagittal plane
ankle moment versus flexion angle curves from 12 healthy subjects during the daily
activities. The slopes of these curves were assessed to find the calculated stiffness
during the peak energy return and harvest phases. For the energy return and harvest
phases, stiffness varied from 0.016 to 0.283 Nm/kg° and 0.025 and 0.858 Nm/kg°, respectively.
The optimum stiffness during the energy return phase was 0.111 ± 0.117 Nm/kg° and
during the energy harvest phase was 0.234 ± 0.327 Nm/kg°. Ankle joint stiffness varied
significantly during the activities of daily living, indicating that an energy storage
unit with a constant stiffness would not be sufficient in providing energy regenerative
gait during all activities. The present study was directed toward the development
of a complete data set to determine the torque-angle properties of the ankle joint
to facilitate a better design process.
Level of Clinical Evidence
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 30, 2018
Footnotes
Financial Disclosure: This study was funded by the Ohio Department of Development, State of Ohio (TECH 09-001), which provided funding in support of the Rapid Rehabilitation and Return to Function for Amputee Soldiers project.
Conflict of Interest: None reported.
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© 2017 by the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. All rights reserved.
