Study of the Walking Efficiency of a Human with a Cane

Abstract

This paper proposes a mathematical model of the walking with canes for an anthropomorphic biped with two identical legs with massless feet, two identical arms, and a torso. The walking is performed in the sagittal plane. The period of the walking gait is the stride that is composed of single support (SS) phase on the first leg, an instantaneous double support (DS) phase, a SS phase on the other leg and another instantaneous DS phase. The stride is the period of this cyclic walking, because the motion of coupled arms is synchronized on this stride. The cane is considered massless. Thus, in order to compare the walking with and without massless cane, the same dynamic model is considered. Numerical tests show that the magnitude of the ground reaction in the stance foot is less with a massless-cane assistance than without one. Especially, the results prove that it is better to use canes with a handle that allows to apply on it a force and a moment by the user. These results highlight the importance of handles in the designing process of the canes. This theoretical study may benefit the design of new canes to overcome a disability on the lower limbs with further researches.