Ground reaction force and plantar pressure reduction in an incremental weight bearing system

A novel approach to mechanical foot stimulation during human locomotion under body weight support

“…Thus, foot pressure stimulation can be used as an important gait-related sensory input during gait rehabilitation in combination with other methods or therapies. The tactile pressure input from the soles is attenuated and may vary significantly with body unloading (Flynn, Canavan, Chiang, & Cavanagh, 1997;Ivanenko et al, 2002) or when using gait machines enabling the repetitive foot motion (Dietz & Colombo, 2004;Hesse, Schmidt, & Werner, 2006). Several techniques have been previously proposed to increase or modify an input from the foot (Hijmans, Geertzen, Schokker, & Postema, 2007;Priplata, Niemi, Harry, Lipsitz, & Collins, 2003) such as step-synchronized vibration stimulation of soles (Novak & Novak, 2006;Priplata et al, 2006), ankle-foot orthosis (Gordon, Wu, Kahn, Dhaher, & Schmit, 2009), redistributing plantar pressure footwear (Bus, Waaijman, Arts, & Manning, 2009;Duranti, Galletti, & Pantaleo, 1985;Rao, Baumhauer, Becica, & Nawoczenski, 2009), mechanical support stimulation imitating walking in conditions of microgravity or prolonged hypokinesia (Chernikova, Umarova, Saenko, & Kozlovskaya, 2007;Sayenko, Miller, Ivanov, Galanov, & Guekht, 2005) or electrical stimulation of distal nerves.…”

Integration of a System for Continuous Measurement of Dynamic Foot Pressure During Treadmill Walking

“…Recent technological advances in movement analysis Systems do no longer principally restrict the duration of data acquisition for variables like joint angles, ground reaction forces and EMG. Additional important Information may be obtained from the analysis of the pressure distribution under foot during walking [3]. However, currently existing measurement Systems for the dynamic pressure distribution under the foot are typically designed for mobile application and allow for assessment of a few single Steps only.…”