Biomechanical Characteristics of Lower Extremity during Elliptical Training with Body Weight Suspension System

Abstract

The intelligently controlled assistive rehabilitation elliptical trainer (ICARE) with suspension system (SportsArt Inc) has been used to help to improve the walking capacity However the movement characteristics and joint loadings under the various suspended force were unclear Therefore the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of body weight support on the biomechanical characteristics during stepping the ICARE Fourteen healthy male volunteers (mean height: 172 5±4 5 cm mean weight: 65 0±10 5 kg) were recruited They were asked to step the ICARE at the speed of 60 RPM under suspended forces of 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% and 50% body weight support with active and passive movement patterns respectively The motion capture system with 8 cameras (Eagle Digital RealTime System) and load cells embedded in bilateral pedals (Mini85-E Transducer ATI Industrial Automation) were used to collect data Repeated one-way ANOVA was used to compare the differences among 6 suspended levels and paired-t test was used to exam the differences between two movement patterns and both feet The movement ranges of the hip joint were 49 0±4 2° at 0% body weight support (BWS) and 37±4 7° at 50% BWS The joint forces and the joint moments (maximum hip flexion moments maximum knee flexion moments maximum ankle dorsiflexion moments) of the dominant legs are greater than the non-dominant legs The maximum hip flexion moments were 33 8±5 8 N-m/BW*LL at 0% BWS and 27 3±3 9 N-m/BW*LL at 50% BWS The maximum knee flexion moments were 19 1±7 9 N-m/BW*LL at 0% BWS and 16 7±7 8 N-m/BW*LL at 50% BWS respectively The maximum ankle plantar flexion moments were 5 7±2 9 N-m/BW*LL at 0% BWS and 0 7±1 3 N-m/BW*LL at 50% BWS respectively According to our study the maximum moments of hip flexion knee flexion and ankle plantar flexion would decrease when hanging higher partial body weight Especially the joint forces and moments would be smaller in passive modes as suspended 30% to 50% BWS According to the different needs of patients the therapists could make the appropriate setting of elliptical trainer with suspension system

Date of Award	2016 Sept 1
Original language	English
Supervisor	Fong-chin Su (Supervisor)