Frameworks for the design of passive prosthetic knee components using user-centered methods and biomechanics of level-ground walking

Passive knee prostheses in developing countries use low-cost components driven primarily by the need to prevent falls, resulting in undesirable gait deviations during walking. There is a severe lack of reliable data on the specific needs of low-income amputees, which poses a significant challenge towards developing globally appropriate prosthetic technology. This thesis presents the analysis of user-centered needs and relevant lower leg dynamics as frameworks for the design of passive prosthetic knee components that can enable transfemoral (above-knee) amputees to ambulate with minimal gait deviations leading to higher user satisfaction. The goal of developing these frameworks is ultimately to design a low cost, fully passive prosthetic knee device for persons with transfemoral amputations living in the developing world. To identify user needs, structured oral interviews of 19 transfemoral amputees in India were conducted regarding 22 different Activities of Daily Living (ADLs).

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Arelekatti, Venkata Narayana Murthy.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Amos G. Winter, V.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/123765

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/123765