Identifying Spring Coefficient for Assisting Hemiplegic Patient's Heel Rocker Function: A Feasibility Study

Jing Chen Hong, Genki Tanaka, Kazuhiro Yasuda, Hiroki Ohashi, Hiroyasu Iwata

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Most stroke patients with hemiplegia have difficulty on heel rocker function due to weak dorsiflexors at their paralyzed side. The proposed high-dorsiflexion assistive robotic technology (RT) supports ankle dorsiflexion during gait rehabilitation. Aside from the McKibben-type artificial muscle's contraction to assist swing phase dorsiflexion, a tension spring is aligned in series to support heel rocker function upon heel strike. Because of different requirements of dorsiflexion torque during loading response phase, selection of suitable spring for corresponding user could be important. Springs with either excessively large or small coefficients might the normal heel rocker function. In this research, an identification method based on observing tension on the spring in loading response phase was derived. We aim for simple clinical setting and availability on patients with various pathological gait patterns, especially gait asymmetry. A case study on a stroke patient with hemiplegia was conducted to evaluate effect with the identified spring. Increase of knee angle (before intervention: mean 2.118°, SD 0.418°; during intervention: mean 12.814°, SD 1.764°) and shank angular velocity to the ground (before intervention: mean 117.300°/s, SD 9.491°/s; during intervention: mean 255.875°/s, SD 34.130°/s) indicates sufficient heel rocker function could be supported during intervention of the identified tension spring in this specific case.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2020 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, SMC 2020
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages738-743
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781728185262
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020 Oct 11
Event2020 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, SMC 2020 - Toronto, Canada
Duration: 2020 Oct 112020 Oct 14

Publication series

NameConference Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics
Volume2020-October
ISSN (Print)1062-922X

Conference

Conference2020 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, SMC 2020
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityToronto
Period20/10/1120/10/14

Keywords

  • Ankle-foot orthosis
  • Heel rocker function
  • Hemiplegia
  • Rehabilitation
  • Stroke
  • Tension spring

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Human-Computer Interaction

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