Walking abilities improvements are associated with pelvis and trunk kinematic adaptations in transfemoral amputees after rehabilitation

Inertial Measuring System to Evaluate Gait Parameters and Dynamic Alignments for Lower-Limb Amputation Subjects

“…Due to the heterogenicity of amputee-specific assessment scales, a clinical 10-m walk test, as shown in Figure 13 , is more suitable and feasible to obtain the average walking speed [ 43 ], one of critical variables to assess the functional status for amputees with equipped prosthesis [ 9 ]. For the feasibility test, we recruited amputees who were capable of walking independently after wearing a prosthesis.…”

“…Despite these situations, a prosthesis helps subjects regain their socioeconomic functions after amputation [ 8 ]. Researchers proved that after receiving four weeks of endurance training, lower-limb amputees were able to reduce step widths, similar to healthy subjects [ 9 ], i.e., rehabilitation for amputees also changes the biomechanics after wearing a prosthesis [ 2 , 10 ]. Thus, assessing the quality of a prosthesis and monitoring the gait deviations are essential for these changes.…”

“…Time-consumption and facility limitation hinder their clinical applications. As far as lower-extremity amputees are concerned, rehabilitation may improve gait deviation which varies over time after wearing a prosthesis [ 2 , 9 ]. Furthermore, a gait analysis performed in a controlled laboratory environment does not correlate well with functional results in daily activities [ 15 ].…”

“…Acceleration during walking has been considered as an indicator of walking smoothness [ 19 ]. Further, the calculated trunk stability can be used as a surrogate scale for functional improvement among transfemoral amputees [ 9 ]. Thus, inertial sensors are suitable for amputees to monitor pelvic motion and gait symmetry, which is reasonable for comprehensive rehabilitation.…”

“…An inertial sensor deployed on the back is suitable for embedding into back belts as decoration. The kinematics of the lower extremities such as the pelvic and trunk motions are crucial for gait analysis among amputees [ 9 ]. An inertial sensor affixed on a lateral socket prosthesis is also proper for transfemoral amputees.…”