Purpose
This study aimed to investigate the effect of the prosthetic foot used by unilateral transtibial amputees during different walk tasks by utilizing biomechanical analysis.
Methods
Human subject ethics approval was granted by the University Ethics Committee. Five (2 females and 3 males) unilateral transtibial amputees (age:(mean±SD) 63.4±7.7 years, height: 165.6±6.4 cm; body mass: 69.4±4.1 kg; years of using prosthetic foot: 30.8±9.3 years) joined this study. The participants walked on the treadmill for five minutes warm-up, and then walked at 4.5 km/h speed with different slopes (ie, downhill 3 degrees, downhill 7 degrees, uphill 3 degrees, uphill 7 degrees, and 0 degrees) for 2 minutes on the treadmill for data acquisition. A 30-second resting was set between each 2-minute walk. The treadmill is equipped with an analyzed software to collect the gait parameters, and the maximum plantar pressure at …