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A polycentric knee-ankle mechanism for above-knee prostheses

1980; Elsevier BV; Volume: 13; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0021-9290(80)90366-8

1873-2380

Aurelio Cappozzo, T. Leo, Sergio Sandrolini Cortesi,

Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials

Abstract A kinematic linkage mechanism which involves both the knee and the ankle of an artificial limb for above-knee amputees, was designed. It allows optimization of the stability control of the prosthesis and a physiologic-like dorsiflexion of the foot during the swing phase. In this paper the knee-ankle mechanism of a prosthetic device and the motivations, and procedure that led to its design are described. In this context a criterion for the evaluation of the degree of controllability of an artificial limb is also developed with characteristics of general applicability.