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- Creators: Marvi, Hamidreza
- Creators: Meissinger, Ellen
Description
Human walking has been a highly studied topic in research communities because of its extreme importance to human functionality and mobility. A complex system of interconnected gait mechanisms in humans is responsible for generating robust and consistent walking motion over unpredictable ground and through challenging obstacles. One interesting aspect of human gait is the ability to adjust in order to accommodate varying surface grades. Typical approaches to investigating this gait function focus on incline and decline surface angles, but most experiments fail to address the effects of surface grades that cause ankle inversion and eversion. There have been several studies of ankle angle perturbation over wider ranges of grade orientations in static conditions; however, these studies do not account for effects during the gait cycle. Furthermore, contemporary studies on this topic neglect critical sources of unnatural stimulus in the design of investigative technology. It is hypothesized that the investigation of ankle angle perturbations in the frontal plane, particularly in the context of inter-leg coordination mechanisms, results in a more complete characterization of the effects of surface grade on human gait mechanisms. This greater understanding could potentially lead to significant applications in gait rehabilitation, especially for individuals who suffer from impairment as a result of stroke. A wearable pneumatic device was designed to impose inversion and eversion perturbations on the ankle through simulated surface grade changes. This prototype device was fabricated, characterized, and tested in order to assess its effectiveness. After testing and characterizing this device, it was used in a series of experiments on human subjects while data was gathered on muscular activation and gait kinematics. The results of the characterization show success in imposing inversion and eversion angle perturbations of approximately 9° with a response time of 0.5 s. Preliminary experiments focusing on inter-leg coordination with healthy human subjects show that one-sided inversion and eversion perturbations have virtually no effect on gait kinematics. However, changes in muscular activation from one-sided perturbations show statistical significance in key lower limb muscles. Thus, the prototype device demonstrates novelty in the context of human gait research for potential applications in rehabilitation.
ContributorsBarkan, Andrew (Author) / Artemiadis, Panagiotis (Thesis advisor) / Lee, Hyunglae (Committee member) / Marvi, Hamidreza (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
I was a curious child who grew up to be a curious adult. Ever since I learned how to read, I have had a passion for science and learning new things. I chose to watch the Discovery channel over any other network on TV, and I was drawn to the non-fiction section of the Phoenix Public Library. My parents encouraged my curiosity and helped me learn in any way they could. My mom took me to Juniper Library every weekend while my dad sat through countless episodes of Mythbusters, How It’s Made, and Shark Week specials. Eventually, there came a time when they could no longer answer the endless questions I would throw their way. My mom likes to remind me of one question in particular that I would ask that she was unable to form any kind of answer to. This question ended up shaping my scientific interests and became the basis for my chosen college major. The question was “why are people people?”
ContributorsMaiorella, Madeline Jo (Author) / Meissinger, Ellen (Thesis director) / Lawrence, Julie (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05