Effects of Walking Speed and Added Mass on Hip Joint Quasi-Stiffness in Healthy Young and Middle-Aged Adults.

ABSTRACT: Joint quasi-stiffness has been often used to inform exoskeleton design. Further understanding of hip quasi-stiffness is needed to design hip exoskeletons. Of interest are wearer responses to walking speed changes with added mass of the exoskeleton. This study analyzed hip quasi-stiffness at 3 walking speed levels and 9 added mass distributions among 13 young and 16 middle-aged adults during mid-stance hip extension and late-stance hip flexion. Compared to young adults, middle-aged adults maintained a higher quasi-stiffness with a smaller range. For a faster walking speed, both age groups increased extension and flexion quasi-stiffness. With mass evenly distributed on the pelvis and thighs or biased to the pelvis, both groups maintained or increased extension quasi-stiffness. With mass bias

SUBMITTER: Fang S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10181717 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature