Effects of Wearing a Powered Ankle-Foot Prosthesis on Amputee Walking

Amputees wearing a conventional prosthesis require 20-30% more metabolic energy to walk at the same speeds as non-amputees and this discrepancy is more apparent at faster walking speeds. Amputees choose to walk at speeds 30-40% slower than non-amputees. Preferred walking speed is likely influenced by elevated metabolic energy, but the underlying reason for slower preferred walking speeds is not fully understood. Unilateral amputees exhibit highly asymmetrical gait patterns that likely require more metabolic energy and impair functional mobility, increasing the risk of degenerative joint disease, osteo-arthritis and lower back pain. Improvements in prosthetic devices could enhance mobility in amputees, thus positively effecting rehabilitation and ambulation in veterans. A prosthesis that allows amputees to reduce metabolic energy would be especially useful for rehabilitation in older, ill individuals with reduced exercise capacities and could literally restore walking ability in people that are currently non-ambulatory.

Hypotheses. Amputees wearing the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Powered Ankle-Foot (PAF) prosthesis will have a lower metabolic cost, faster preferred walking speed, and improved gait symmetry during walking than amputees wearing a conventional prosthesis and will have nearly the same metabolic cost, preferred walking speed, and gait symmetry during walking as age, gender, height, and weight matched non-amputees.