An instrumented treadmill for musculoskeletal gait analysis and reduced-sedentarity activities

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

REQUESTED EQUIPMENT - In gait analysis, participants usually walk on a walkway with force plates in its middle. Since it is necessary that the subject steps entirely on each force plate with only one foot, several trials are required, leading to fatigue in patients with disorders. To avoid this cumbersome process, a dual-belt treadmill instrumented with 6D force sensors is requested. It will provide, for several cycles, the measure of 3D forces and moments independently under the left and right feet. RESEARCH PROGRAMS - The fully instrumented treadmill will be a central piece in 7 engineering research projects involving already 12 graduate students. The NSERC projects include 2 Collaborative R&D grants [CRD] and 3 Discovery programs. 1) Musculoskeletal gait analysis - Begon and Raison have developed promising musculoskeletal [MSK] models (μForce and Muscleware) for patients with upper-limb MSK disorders. Their 3-year objective is to develop an hybrid accurate algorithm for real-time musculoskeletal gait analysis. Immediately, the instrumented treadmill in combination with EMG and motion analysis systems to have all the input data of both algorithms and their variability. 2) Lower-limb orthotics design - Begon and Allard in cooperation with Médicus and Caboma aim at designing a 3D printed foot orthotics, personalised to the patient foot geometry but also his/her gait biomechanics. While finite element method will guide the design, intensive gait analysis is essential to account for inter-subject variability. This includes walking and running at controlled speed and incline on the instrumented treadmill in combination with EMG and motion capture. 3) Biomechanics/productivity-based algorithms for controlling treadmill speed - Together Begon and Ballaz are developing two “runner” serious-active games where child movements - in terms of intensity and technical quality - drive an avatar. Part of these projects is to extend opportunities using instrumented treadmill where its speed is controlled according to real-time gait analysis. URGENT NEED - Immediately, it is crucial to transfer the μForce algorithm to gait analysis, its social impact going well beyond that of upper limb. The treadmill is not only necessary to pursue Discovery programs toward excellence, but will also hasten 3 projects with Canadian companies. Unfortunately, very few instrumented treadmills are installed close and these labs do not have tools to personalise models. HQP TRAINING - The treadmill will be used by a NSERC funded group of 5 researchers with 18 PhD, 9 MSc and 3 post-doctoral students, and 25 BSc trainees each year. They collaborate on a regular basis and share infrastructure to maximise its use, HQP training and scientific impact. Monthly trainings are organized on the research tools. Such students with skills and know-how in both measurement and modeling are rare but requested in biomedical companies.