Gait enhancing mobile shoe (GEMS) for rehabilitation

Abstract

Individuals with certain types of central nervous system damage, such as stroke, have an asymmetric walking gait. Using a splitbelt treadmill, where each leg walks at a different speed, has been shown to help rehabilitate walking impaired individuals, but there is one distinct drawback; the corrected gait does not transfer well to walking over ground. To increase the gait transference to another environment, we designed and built a passive shoe that admits a motion similar to that felt when walking on a split-belt treadmill. Our gait enhancing mobile shoe (GEMS) alters the wearer's gait by causing one foot to move backward during the stance phase while walking over ground. No external power is required since the shoe mechanically converts the wearers downward and horizontal forces into a backward motion. This shoe would allow a patient to walk over ground while experiencing the same gait altering effects as felt on a split-belt treadmill, which should aid in transferring the corrected gait to walking in natural environments.

Walking up and down in immersive virtual worlds: Novel interactive techniques based on visual feedback

“…Other smaller, less complex and more affordable locomotion devices exist that enable locomotion following the same motion compensation principle. Foot-wearable devices like the Powered-Shoes [6] and, more recently, the Gait Enhancing Mobile Shoe [1], compensate the user's motion without being attached to a bulky structure. However, they cannot render slopes or any kind of uneven terrain.…”

Kinetic Shapes: Analysis, Verification, and Applications

“…This includes the kinematics of circular and noncircular (elliptical) belt pulleys [12] and gears [13], and the kinematics of rack and pinion type of mechanisms [14]. Again, little is found in this area for free rolling and force redirection of irregular shapes.…”

Developing a Gait Enhancing Mobile Shoe to alter over-ground walking coordination

“…The GEM Shoe presented in this paper is the successor of previous versions [12][19]. The first GEMS [12] was passive, but had no control of the backward foot motion.…”

“…The first GEMS [12] was passive, but had no control of the backward foot motion. Although it moved the wearer’s foot backward, it did so in a jerky and fairly unpredictable motion comparable to sliding on ice or a slippery surface.…”