Ankle Push-Off Based Mathematical Model for Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's Disease.

ABSTRACT: Freezing is an involuntary stopping of gait observed in late-stage Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. This is a highly debilitating symptom lacking a clear understanding of its causes. Walking in these patients is also associated with high variability, making both prediction of freezing and its understanding difficult. A neuromechanical model describes the motion of the mechanical (motor) aspects of the body under the action of neuromuscular forcing. In this work, a simplified neuromechanical model of gait is used to infer the causes for both the observed variability and freezing in PD. The mathematical model consists of the stance leg (during walking) modeled as a simple inverted pendulum acted upon by the ankle-push off forces from the trailing leg and pathological forces by the plantar-

SUBMITTER: Parakkal Unni M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7658398 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature