Prescribing Motion by Mirroring : Using Kinematics from an Individual's Sound Leg in Order to Prescribe the Motion of an Aid

Sammanfattning: Prostheses available today are either passive or active. Active prostheses canapply external energy to the joints, while passive cannot. A well functionalprosthesis that is adapted to the wearer can improve the locomotion and alsodecrease the metabolic cost. Existing active prostheses are mainly controlledby information from the prosthesis itself in order to detect the phases in thegait. Due to lack of information from the contralateral leg, asymmetry in thegait can be present.Therefor, this study aims to investigate if it is feasible to use kinematic informationfrom a individual’s sound leg in order to prescribe the motion ofan aid. Three healthy test subjects were used to collect kinematic and EMGdata in a motion capture lab. Two different movements were performed: "Startand stop" and "Start, stop and squat". The data obtained was processed and togetherwith some created criteria a script could calculate knee and ankle anglesfor both reference and mirrored leg. The results conclude that it is feasible tomirror position information from one leg to the other. Further research is recommendedto gain more knowledge about from different trials together withreal aids.