Footplate Harness for Natural Kinematics in Walking Training
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional exercise equipment for rehabilitation after stroke often constrains movement, hiding underlying muscle activation errors and promoting compensatory behaviors, making effective walking training difficult.
Innovation Solution
A harness system that mechanically couples a patient's feet to footplates, allowing heel lift, toe lift, and natural stride motion while preventing slippage, with adjustable and releasable attachments for safety and comfort, and integrated sensors for force measurement and motor control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional exercise equipment constrains movement along a fixed path, then safety and measurement coupling are improved, but muscle activation errors are hidden and compensatory behaviors are promoted
Solution Approach 1:
The harness system transitions from a rigid fixed-path constraint to a dynamic adaptive constraint system. The flexible tension elements and adjustable components allow the footplate to move naturally with the patient's foot while maintaining coupling, enabling the system to adapt to individual gait patterns and accommodate muscle activation variations without promoting compensatory behaviors.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the constraint parameters from a fixed rigid path to variable parameters that allow heel lift, toe lift, and natural stride motion. The adjustable harness components modify the degree of constraint based on the patient's specific needs and gait characteristics, maintaining safety while allowing natural movement variations.
2Productivity
If the harness provides strong mechanical coupling to prevent slippage, then training effectiveness is improved, but natural foot motion freedom is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The harness employs flexible tension elements that provide continuous contact and coupling between the footplate and patient's foot while allowing natural motion. The flexible material and configuration enable the system to maintain training effectiveness through consistent mechanical coupling while accommodating heel lift, toe lift, and natural stride variations without restricting foot motion freedom.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the harness uses adjustable connections to accommodate different sizes, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The harness is divided into multiple adjustable segments including length-adjustable connections between tension elements and separate buckle mechanisms. This segmentation allows independent adjustment of different portions of the harness to accommodate various patient sizes and shoe types while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure that can be configured as needed.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables effective training of disordered walking by balancing motion guidance and freedom, providing safe and natural stride simulation, and allowing immediate feedback and analysis of walking performance.
Implementation Method 1
a first flexible tension element flexibly extending between a front of the patient's foot and an attachment point at a rear of each footplate and a second flexible tension element flexibly extending between a rear of the patient's foot and an attachment point at a front of each footplate
Implementation Method 2
a first flexible tension element flexibly extending between a front of the patient's foot and an attachment point at a rear of each footplate
Data Source
AI summary
A walking training device provides substantial fixation of the user's feet against a movable footplate in the direction of the user's stride while allowing toe lift and heel lift necessary for natural walking. The harness system provides an approximation of a shallow crossed four-bar linkage to provide angulation without substantial translation.