Project Overview

Overview of the approach

The most common disability in the United States is mobility disability and it affects about 1 in 7 adults. The types of walking disabilities include loss of limbs, stroke, cerebral palsy, etc. Stroke is one of the leading causes of long-term disability in the world. It can prevent patients from performing daily functional tasks and significantly decreases their quality of life.

Achieving symmetry and increasing efficiency are two common goals in gait rehabilitation. In this research, we are working on three different but synergetic approaches that could get us closer to a more efficient and symmetric gait:

• Assistive Devices are design technologies that can alter gait dynamics.
• Virtual Simulations of gait behavior help us better understand the interworking mechanics of lower limbs movements
• Rehabilitation Techniques are physical therapy interventions that retrain abnormal or post-injury gaits.

Multiple Rehabilitation Techniques

People with mobility impairment such as stroke often indicate paralysis with weak muscles and require physical therapy to regain strength on the paretic side. While some of the combined rehabilitation techniques result in positive outcomes, the critical ingredients of a successful training remain unknown.

Each existing therapy generates changes in the gait patterns that are distinct from other methods. By utilizing two or more methods simultaneously, we hypothesize that doctors can customize individual gait parameters in a way that is not possible with a single therapy.

We combined Rhythmic Auditory Cueing (RAC) with Split-belt Trainings (SBT). We performed 80+ experiments with human subjects to study the interaction effect of rehabilitation techniques. SBT and RAC have shown significant correlations with symmetry changes after 15-minutes training sessions. This novel combination of therapies has not been tested anywhere else.

Assistive Devices: Kinetic Crutch Tips

Kinetic Crutch Tip

A walking crutch is a type of gait assistive device that transfers weight bearing from the lower limbs to the upper body to relieve stresses on the lower body while also promoting stability. It is often used for people who cannot use their legs to support their weight for reasons ranging from short-term injuries (less than 6 months) to lifelong chronic disabilities.

This research focuses on the difference between the Kinetic Crutch Tip (KCT) and a Standard Rubber Tip. Conventional crutch tips have a standard point or constant radius tip. This type of crutch tip cannot assist or resist the user during pivoting or rolling over the crutch tip, and all forward progression forces are generated by the user pushing themselves forward over the crutch.

Applying the kinetic shape concept to a crutch tip allows the user's downward force to generate a forward force that propels the user forward, thus assisting them to pivot over the crutch. The generated force can be position dependent and customizable.

Two different pendulums with the same motion

Virtual Simulations: 2-Link Pendulum for Asymmetric Gait Modulation

Related Publications

• F. Rasouli and K. B. Reed. "Walking Assistance Using Crutches: A State of the Art Review", Journal of Biomechanics, DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2019.109489, November, 2019.
  [ Science Direct ]
• T. Ramakrishnan, S. H. Kim, and K. B. Reed. "Human Gait Analysis Metric for Gait Retraining", Applied Bionics and Biomechanics, Article ID 1286864, 2019.
  [ Hindawi ]
• F. Rasouli, A. Torres, K. B. Reed, "Assistive Force Redirection of Crutch Gait Produced by the Kinetic Crutch Tip", ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE), Tampa, 2017.
  [ pdf ]
• H. Muratagic, T. Ramakrishnan, and K. B. Reed. "Combined effects of leg length discrepancy and the addition of distal mass on gait asymmetry", Gait & Posture, Volume 58, pp. 487-492, 2017.
  [ Science Direct | pdf ]
• I. Handzic, H. Muratagic, F. Rasouli, K. B. Reed, "Analysis of Two-Dimensional Kinetic Shape Systems", ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE), Tampa, 2017.
  [ pdf ]
• F. Rasouli, D. Huizenga, T. Hess, I. Handzic, and K. B. Reed, "Quantifying the Benefit of the Kinetic Crutch Tip", Proc. of the 15th Intl. Conf. on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), London, July 17-20, 2017.
  [ pdf ]
• I. Handzic, H. Muratagic, and K. B. Reed. "Two-Dimensional Kinetic Shape Dynamics: Verification and Application", Journal of Nonlinear Dynamics, Volume 2016, ID8124015, 2016.
  [ Hindawi | pdf | abstract ]
• I. Handzic and K. B. Reed. "Perception of Gait Patterns that Deviate from Normal and Symmetric Biped Locomotion", Frontiers in Psychology, Volume 6, 2015.
  [ frontiers | pdf | abstract ]
• I. Handzic, H. Muratagic, and K. B. Reed. "Passive Kinematic Synchronization of Dissimilar and Uncoupled Rotating Systems", Nonlinear Dynamics and Systems Theory, Volume 15, Number 4, pp. 383-399, 2015.
  [ NDST | pdf | abstract ]
• D. Capecci, S. H. Kim, K. B. Reed, and I. Handzic, "Crutch Tip for Swing-through Crutch Walking Control Based on a Kinetic Shape", Proc. of the 14th Intl. Conf. on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), August 11-14, 2015 in Singapore.
  [ pdf ]
• I. Handzic and K. B. Reed. "Kinetic Shapes: Analysis, Verification, and Applications", ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, Vol. 136, No. 6, pp. 061005(1-8), 2014.
  [ ASME | pdf | abstract ]
• S. H. Kim and K. B. Reed, "Robot-Assisted Balance Training for Gait Modification", Proc. of the 13th Intl. Conf. on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR), Seattle, USA, June, 2013.
  [ pdf ]

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant IIS-1910434.