Publication Date

2012-05-07

Availability

Open access

Embargo Period

2012-05-07

Degree Name

Master of Engineering (ME)

Department

Industrial Engineering (Engineering)

Date of Defense

2012-04-12

First Committee Member

Shihab S. Asfour

Second Committee Member

Khaled Zakaria Abdelrahman

Third Committee Member

Moataz Eltoukhy

Fourth Committee Member

Arzu Onar-Thomas

Abstract

Treadmills prove to be useful in gait analysis and in rehabilitation. Acquiring instrumented treadmills with built in force plate(s) to measure the Ground Reaction Force (GRF) may not be financially feasible for many general purpose biomechanics laboratories; additionally some instrumented treadmills only measure the vertical component of GRF. To provide a solution for such situations, this study examined a method by which the components of GRF are measured through placing a treadmill over floor-mounted force plates. The GRF measured during the treadmill walk was compared to GRF measured in overground walking to validate the method and then to develop a set of equations to be used in predicting the components of GRF when using none instrumented treadmills. A total of twelve male subjects participated in this study. The analysis of the data did not reveal statistical differences in the early-stance and mid-stance peaks of GRF (VGRFP1, VGRFP2, APGRFP1, APGRFP2, and MLGRFP1) between treadmill and overground walking (p < 0.05). Statistical differences between treadmill and overground walking were found during late-stance peaks of GRF (VGRFP3, and MLGRFP2) (p < 0.05). In late-stance, vertical GRF peaks and medial-lateral GRF peaks were less in treadmill walking than in overground walking by 5–6% and by 1–2% respectively. Regression equations were developed to estimate associations between GRF in treadmill walking and measurements obtained in overground walking.

Keywords

Gait Analysis; Treadmill; Force Plates; Ground Reaction Force (GRF)

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