Analysis and interpretation of ground reaction forces in normal gait

  • Authors:

  • Tea Marasovic;Mojmil Cecic;Vlasta Zanchi

  • Affiliations:

  • Laboratory for Biomechanics and Control Systems, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Split, Split, Croatia;Laboratory for Biomechanics and Control Systems, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Split, Split, Croatia;Laboratory for Biomechanics and Control Systems, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Split, Split, Croatia

  • Venue:
  • WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on SYSTEMS
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

The locomotion biomechanics study provides very extensive and interesting material for investigating the physiological process involved and the neural mechanisms controlling the systems. Gait analysis - the systematic analysis of locomotion - is used today for pretretment assessment, surgical decision making, postoperative follow-up, and management of both adult and young patients. Over the past few decades, multiple advances in bioengineering technology have permited precise analysis of many specific gait characteristics, such as joint angles, angular velocities and angular accelerations (kinematic analysis), as well as ground reaction forces, joint forces, moments and powers (kinetic analysis); electromyographic activity and energy consumption. Sophisticated gait analysis equipment can generate a visible force vector on an oscilloscope screen and superimpose it simultaneously on a photograph of a gait subject. Visualizing ground reaction forces helps us understand the effect they are having on the body in walking. If we have a full kinematic description, accurate anthropometric measures, and the external forces, we can calculate the joint reaction forces and musle moments. This predicition, called the inverse solution, is a very powerful tool in gaining insight into the net summation of all muscle activity at each joint. In this paper, we present and discuss the results of a ground reaction force analysis, conducted using the data samples of 40 voluntary subjects from our faculty student and employee population, differing in age, sex, height and weight, measured by the AMTI force platform.