Tolerable degree of muscle sacrifice when harvesting a vastus lateralis or myocutaneous anterolateral thigh flap

The myocutaneous anterolateral thigh (ALT) and vastus lateralis (VL) flaps include a large muscle mass and a sufficient vascular pedicle, and they have been used for decades to reconstruct traumatic and acquired defects of the head and neck and extremities. In spite of these benefits, musculoskeletal dysfunction was reported in nearly 1 out...

Design of ankle-knee prostheses using predictive simulations

There is an increasing need for transfemoral prostheses that provide gait support, stability, safety and comfort. Although there are many prostheses available in different levels of complexity and price, there is still room for improvement. It has been proved that the cost of transport (CoT) for walking is significantly increased for...

Predicting the effects of ankle-foot orthoses on the gait of patients with calf muscle weakness: A predictive forward dynamics simulation study

Various neuromuscular disorders such as spinal cord injury, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and poliomyelitis lead to calf muscle weakness, which limits the patient's ability to propel their body forward during gait. Their abnormal gait pattern is characterized by increased ankle dorsiflexion, excessive knee flexion during stance and reduced ankle...

Simulation of equinus gait and effects of ankle stiffness compensation with a neuromusculoskeletal model

Introduction: Pes equinus with increased ankle joint stiffness is a common impairment in stroke and Cerebral Palsy (CP) patients with structural and/or neural deficits of the ankle muscles. Equinus gait is characterized by toe-strike, abnormal ankle plantarflexion and decreased ankle range of motion (ROM). A new ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) with...

Towards dynamically stable gait of an 8 degrees of freedom exoskeleton through predictive forward dynamics simulation

The main form of mobility for paraplegic patients is by wheelchair. However, not moving the legs comes with adverse health effects. Exoskeletons are one solution to get these patients walking again. One of the aims of exoskeleton research is the complete restoration of locomotion for paraplegic patients. The achieved gait must be stable, safe...