Researchers in the Czech Republic, at the University of Ostrava and Palacký University, Olomouc, have found that the use of bionic prosthetic technology achieves a level of gait symmetry in individuals with transfemoral amputations approaching that observed in able-bodied individuals.
Eight individuals with transfemoral amputations participated in the study. Subjects walked across two dynamometric platforms a total of 15 times, and their gait was analyzed using a 3D optoelectronic device. compared the temporal-spatial gait parameters of individuals with transfemoral amputations fitted with bionic or mechanically passive prosthetic knees with subjects with a nonpathological gait. The researchers found that compared with a mechanically passive knee joint, a bionic knee joint evinced gait symmetry. Further, both the stance time and swing time for study participants with a bionic knee were similar to those of the able-bodied cohort.
The study was published in the July 2013 issue of Prosthetics and Orthotics International.
