Comparison of Gait Cycle Analysis on the Evaluation of Different Foot Prostheses

Unfortunately, the loss of limbs is more common every day due to the increment of vascular diseases, mainly results of diabetics disorders. Therefore, applying science and technology to develop or study prosthetics is a field of interest. In this work, we focus on evaluating three different prosthetic feet in participants with transtibial amputation, Niagara, solid ankle cushion heel (SACH), and articulated foot. The motivation of such a study is to obtain an objective evaluation of the quality and performance of prosthetic elements based on the gait cycle analysis. The methodology consists of using a motion capture system to capture data during the gait on a treadmill with controlled velocity and time. Then, we process and analyze the data to obtain symmetry factors such as step duration, stance time ratio, cadence, and traversed distance. The parameters obtained with the developed protocol can be used to further studies on the quality or comfort of other prosthetic elements, for example, sockets, liners, articulations, and different materials or manufactured elements.