Alterations in muscle coordination to reduce knee joint loading for people with limb loss
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Hu, Jiayu
Ding, Ziyun
Bull, Anthony
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Purpose:
People with unilateral transtibial amputation experienced a higher incidence of knee osteoarthritis due to abnormal movement patterns. This study aimed to explore alternations in muscle coordination to reduce mechanical burdens in their daily activities.
Methods:
Five males with unilateral transtibial amputation were recruited. Two daily activities (level walking and standing up from a chair) were simulated using muscle-driven simulation. Two cost functions were applied: minimising the knee adduction moment and minimising both the knee adduction moment and knee flexion moment. This enabled the identification of altered muscle coordination and any possible changes in kinematic patterns.
Results:
For people with unilateral transtibial amputation, reducing knee adduction angles during stance was found effective in reducing knee adduction moments. To mitigate peak contact forces at the intact knee, muscle activations of vasti and gastrocnemius should be decreased, while muscle activations of soleus should be increased during activities of level walking and standing up from a chair.
Conclusion:
Our study suggested that minimising knee adduction moments was effective in reducing joint loading during level walking while minimising both knee adduction moments and knee flexion moments was effective during standing up from a chair. Therefore, the alteration of muscle coordination should be carefully designed for different daily activities.
People with unilateral transtibial amputation experienced a higher incidence of knee osteoarthritis due to abnormal movement patterns. This study aimed to explore alternations in muscle coordination to reduce mechanical burdens in their daily activities.
Methods:
Five males with unilateral transtibial amputation were recruited. Two daily activities (level walking and standing up from a chair) were simulated using muscle-driven simulation. Two cost functions were applied: minimising the knee adduction moment and minimising both the knee adduction moment and knee flexion moment. This enabled the identification of altered muscle coordination and any possible changes in kinematic patterns.
Results:
For people with unilateral transtibial amputation, reducing knee adduction angles during stance was found effective in reducing knee adduction moments. To mitigate peak contact forces at the intact knee, muscle activations of vasti and gastrocnemius should be decreased, while muscle activations of soleus should be increased during activities of level walking and standing up from a chair.
Conclusion:
Our study suggested that minimising knee adduction moments was effective in reducing joint loading during level walking while minimising both knee adduction moments and knee flexion moments was effective during standing up from a chair. Therefore, the alteration of muscle coordination should be carefully designed for different daily activities.
Date Issued
2025-04-01
Date Acceptance
2025-01-14
Citation
Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 2025, 53, pp.935-945
ISSN
0090-6964
Publisher
Springer
Start Page
935
End Page
945
Journal / Book Title
Annals of Biomedical Engineering
Volume
53
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1007/s10439-025-03682-6
Subjects
09 Engineering
11 Medical and Health Sciences
Biomedical Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2025-01-24