The Determination of Assistance-as-Needed Support by an Ankle–Foot Orthosis for Patients with Foot Drop

David Scherb (), Patrick Steck, Iris Wechsler, Sandro Wartzack and Jörg Miehling
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David Scherb: Engineering Design, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Patrick Steck: Engineering Design, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Iris Wechsler: Engineering Design, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Sandro Wartzack: Engineering Design, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Jörg Miehling: Engineering Design, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 17, 1-18

Abstract: Patients who suffer from foot drop have impaired gait pattern functions and a higher risk of stumbling and falling. Therefore, they are usually treated with an assistive device, a so-called ankle–foot orthosis. The support of the orthosis should be in accordance with the motor requirements of the patient and should only be provided when needed, which is referred to as assistance-as-needed. Thus, in this publication, an approach is presented to determine the assistance-as-needed support using musculoskeletal human models. Based on motion capture recordings of multiple subjects performing gaits at different speeds, a parameter study varying the optimal force of a reserve actuator representing the ankle–foot orthosis added in the musculoskeletal simulation is conducted. The results show the dependency of the simulation results on the selected optimal force of the reserve actuator but with a possible identification of the assistance-as-needed support required from the ankle–foot orthosis. The required increase in support due to the increasing severity of foot drop is especially demonstrated with the approach. With this approach, information for the required support of individual subjects can be gathered, which can further be used to derive the design of an ankle–foot orthosis that optimally assists the subjects.

Keywords: ankle–foot orthosis; digital human models; gait assistance; musculoskeletal simulation; foot drop; muscle weakness; design for medical devices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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