Course Title: Biomechanics

Course Code: BME 121

Credit: 3.0

Reference paper:
A REVIEW OF GAIT CYCLE AND ITS PARAMETERS
Reference Book:
Introductory Biomechanics- C. Ross Ethier (Art: 10.3)
 Introduction

• It is possible to analyze human walking quantitatively using the

techniques of gait analysis.
• This can yield extensive data on a single subject, including
• time-resolved limb locations,
• velocities,
• accelerations,
• As well as time-resolved forces acting on and within limbs.

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 2

 Why Gait Analysis?
❖Data on walking can be used as a diagnostic tool for patients having musculoskeletal and/or
neurological control problems.

❖Data gathered can also be used as an indicator of disease severity in such patients, although this
requires a large database of normal people and individuals with confirmed disease.

❖Data on walking can be used to evaluate the effects of treatment, such as surgery, drugs, and/or
assistive devices, on patients having gait pathologies.

❖In the case of assistive devices, such data can be used to optimize device usage and adjustment.

❖Data on walking can be used as a tool for long-term clinical monitoring of surgical patients
(e.g., for patients who have received total artificial knees). Such data can form part of an
assessment about which type of surgery, knee design, etc. is optimal

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 3

 Definitions

Gait: Rhythmic, cyclic movements of the limbs in relation to the trunk resulting in forward
propulsion of the body.
Walking: Walking can be defined as, a method of locomotion involving the use of the two legs,
alternately, to provide both support and propulsion.
Gait cycle: A gait cycle is the time period or sequence of events or movements during
locomotion in which one foot contacts the ground to when that same foot again contacts the
ground and involves propulsion of the center of gravity in the direction of motion.
➢ A gait cycle usually involves co-operative movements of both the left and right legs and feet. A
single gait cycle is also known as a stride.
Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 4
 Task during gait
➢ Weight acceptance
➢ Single limb support
➢ Limb advancement

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 5

 Gait cycle or stride phases
Each gait cycle or stride has two major phases:
➢Stance Phase: the phase during which the foot remains in contact with the ground, and the
➢Swing Phase: the phase during which the foot is not in contact with the ground.

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 6

 Stance phase
Stance phase is that part of a gait cycle during which the foot remains in contact with the ground. It constitutes 60% of the
gait cycle (10% for initial double-limb stance, 40% for single-limb stance and 10% for terminal double-limb stance). Stance
phase consists of four events and four phases..
➢Initial Contact (Heel Strike): The heel of the reference foot touches the ground in front of the body. The respective
knee is extended while the hip is extending from flexed position, bringing the torso to the lowest vertical position.
This event marks the initiation of stance phase.
➢Loading Response (Foot Flat) Phase: Loading response phase begins immediately after the heel strikes the
ground. In loading response phase, the weight is transferred onto the referenced leg. It is important for weight-
bearing, shock-absorption and forward progression.
➢Opposite Toe-off: The toes of the opposite foot are raised above the ground as the foot begins to hover forward.
This event terminates the period of double-limb support.
➢Mid-stance Phase: It involves alignment and balancing of body weight on the reference foot regarding single-limb
support. During mid-stance phase the reference foot contact the ground flat-footed.
➢Heel Rise: The heel of the reference foot rises while the toes are still in contact with the ground. This event marks
the end of mid-stance phase and the beginning of terminal stance phase.
➢Terminal Stance Phase: In this phase the heel of reference foot continues to rise while its toes are still in contact
with the ground. The centre of gravity is in front of the foot.
➢Opposite Initial Contact: The heel of the opposite foot contact the ground while the toes of the reference foot still
touch the ground, providing double support.
➢Pre-swing Phase: This phase corresponds to the loading response phase of the opposite foot. The center of gravity
moves to the opposite side.
Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 7
 Swing phases
Swing phase is that part of the gait cycle during which the reference foot is not in contact with the ground
and swings in the air. It constitutes about 40% of gait cycle. It can be separated by three events into three
phases:
Toe-off: The toes of reference foot rise above the ground. This event is the beginning of the swing
phase of the gait cycle. The body weight is single-supported by the opposite foot.
Initial Swing Phase: The reference foot moves forward towards the opposite foot.
Feet adjacent: The reference foot hovers above the ground adjacent to the opposite foot.
Mid-swing Phase: This phase is marked by feet adjacent event.
Tibia Vertical: The orientation of respective tibia is approximately perpendicular to the ground.
The event is regarded as the end of mid-swing phase.
Terminal Swing Phase: During terminal swing phase, the reference foot begins landing to the
ground.

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 8

 Support
➢ Single support: In single support only one foot is in contact with the ground.
➢ Double support: In double support both feet are in contact with the ground. Double support
occurs from heel strike, continues during loading response phase, until the toes of the opposite
foot rise off the ground.

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 9

 Parameters of gait
➢ Step Length: It is defined as the distance between corresponding successive points of heel
contact of the opposite feet. In a normal gait, the right step length is equal to left step length.
➢ Stride Length: It is defined as the distance between any two successive points of heel contact
of the same foot. In a normal gait, the stride length is double the step length.

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 10

 Parameters of gait
➢ Walking Base or Stride Width: It is defined as the side-to-side distance between the line of
step of the two feet.
➢ Degree of toe-out: It represents the angle of foot formed by each foot’s line of progression and
a line intersecting the center of the heel and the second toe.

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 11

 Parameters of gait
➢ Cadence: The cadence is the number of steps taken in a given time, there are two steps in a
single gait cycle, and the cadence is a measure of half-cycles.
➢ Cycle time: Time required to complete one gait cycle.
cycle time (s) = 120/cadence
➢ Walking speed: is the distance covered in a given time. The instantaneous speed varies from
one instant to another during the walking cycle, but the average speed is the product of the
cadence and the stride length.
speed (m/s) = (stride length (m) × cadence )/120
speed (m/s) = stride length (m)/cycle time(s)

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 12

 Quantitative Assessment

• Gait analysis has four main components:

➢ EMG
➢ Anthropometry
➢ Kinematics
➢ Kinetics

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 13

 Quantitative Assessment (EMG)

• This measures the electrical signals that cause muscles to contract.

• Since the force exerted at joints depends on muscle contraction, among other
things, knowledge of muscle activity is useful for assessing joint dynamics.
• Electromyographic data are obtained using electrodes either on the surface
(similar to those used for measuring the electrocardiogram) or implanted in the
muscle.

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 14

Quantitative Assessment (EMG)

EMG data collection of a Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) patient.

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 15
 Quantitative Assessment (EMG)
(Patient-1) Right Leg Electromyograph
Standard Patient

3.5 4

EMG Voltage (Volt)

3
3
2
Stance Swing 1
EMG Voltsge (Volt)

2.5
0
2 0 5 10 15 20 25

Sample Data of Gait Cycle

1.5

0.5 (Patient-1) Left Leg Electromyograph

Standard Patient
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 3.5

EMG Voltage (Volt)

Number of Sample Data 3
2.5
2
Figure: Average EMG graph of Tibialis 1.5
Anterior Muscle 1
0.5
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Sample Data of Gait Cycle

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 16

Quantitative Assessment (EMG)

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 17

 Quantitative Assessment (Anthropometry)

• Anthropometry is defined to be the measurement of the human body.

• In the context of gait analysis, parameters to be taken into consideration are:
• lengths,
• masses,
• locations of the centers of mass, and
• mass moments of inertia of the lower limb segments.
• Information on sites of attachment of muscles, muscle cross-sectional areas, line
of actions of muscles, and so on are also of interest.

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 18

Quantitative Assessment (Anthropometry)

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 19

 Quantitative Assessment (Kinematics)

• Kinematics is the study of motion, without regard to the forces and moments
responsible for the motion.
• In a kinematic analysis, we are typically concerned with
➢ limb segment position and angle,
➢ velocity and angular velocity,
➢ acceleration and angular acceleration.

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 20

 Quantitative Assessment (Kinematics)

• Ways of gathering kinematic data:

✓ Goniometers
✓ Accelerometers
✓ Imaging

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 21

 Quantitative Assessment (Kinematics)
Goniometers:
• These are devices for measuring joint angles.
• For example, the knee flexion angle (angle between shank and thigh) is
commonly measured with a goniometer.
• Most goniometers are potentiometers whose resistance varies with angle.
• They are cheap and easy to use but can be difficult to align with the axis of
rotation.

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 22

 Quantitative Assessment (Kinematics)
Accelerometers:
• These devices are mounted onto the surface of
the body at convenient points and measure the
acceleration of that location.

MPU6050 6 Axis ADXL335 3 Axis

Accelerometer Accelerometer

Gait analysis using wearable sensors

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 23

 Quantitative Assessment (Kinematics)

Imaging:
• Anatomical markers are placed on key
locations, and images of the subject
are acquired during walking.
• To resolve motion in two dimensions,
this approach is fairly straightforward.
• However, in three dimensions it
becomes much more complex.
• In the latter case, at least two cameras
must be used, and care must be taken
to register the images and ensure that
markers are correctly identified.
Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 24
Quantitative Assessment (Kinematics)

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 25

Quantitative Assessment (Kinematics)

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 26

 Quantitative Assessment (Kinematics)
• Here we will consider only a simple two-dimensional analysis of gait,
focusing on the motion of the knee joint.
• We will assume that markers have been placed on the leg as shown in
Figure.
• Here the convention is that vector Xij starts at marker i and points to
marker j, so that in the sagittal plane (constant z), it can be written:

• The angle θij is defined with respect to x axis, so that from the definition
of dot product it can be written as:

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 27

 Quantitative Assessment (Kinematics)

• Where eˆx is the unit vector in the x direction.

• Finally, we define the knee flexion angle to be θknee = θ21 -
θ43, as indicated in Figure.
• Note that this angle is zero when the knee is straight and is
positive when the knee is in flexion.
• We can compute the knee flexion angle from noting that,

Equation 1

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 28

 Quantitative Assessment (Kinematics)

• For frame 6, we have the following data:

• x21 = (-229.2, 409.7) mm,
• x43 = (-146.5, 377.7) mm,
• which when substituted into Equation 1 yields a knee flexion angle of, θknee = 8.04◦

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 29

 Quantitative Assessment (Kinetics)

• Kinetics is the study of the forces that produce motion.

• In the context of gait analysis, the important forces
are:
• Consequence of muscle contraction,
• Reaction forces acting on the foot from the ground, and
• Reaction forces acting at joints
• This is measured using a force plate, a floor-mounted
plate instrumented with force transducers.

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 30

 Quantitative Assessment (Kinetics)

• Typical data for a normal subject walking are shown in Figure.

• The vertical reaction force increases from zero at the moment
of heel strike to a maximum value as the stance leg is
dynamically loaded
• It then,
➢ dips slightly below body weight as the stance leg flexes
slightly at mid-stride,
➢ increases to greater than body weight as the stance leg
extends at push-off, and
➢ then decreases to zero as the foot leaves the floor

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 31

 Link Segment Model
• This model is the combination of
✓ Kinematics
✓ Kinetics
✓ Anthropometry
• To illustrate this process, a link segment analysis of forces at
the knee is considered.
• the following two assumptions are made:
❑ joints are considered to be hinge (pin) joints with a
single center of rotation at which a set of reaction forces
and a reaction moment act
❑ the anthropometric properties of each limb segment (i.e.,
location of the center of mass and mass moment of
inertia) are fixed during the walking process
•

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 32

 Link Segment Model
• Apply Newton’s second law in the horizontal and vertical
directions to obtain:

• where mt is the mass of the shank plus foot

• ax, ay are the linear accelerations of the center of mass of the
combined segment (shank plus foot) in the x and y directions,
respectively.
• g is the gravitational acceleration constant

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 33

 Example problems
A 100-kg football player was injured in the knee. To understand how he is recovering, gait analysis was performed.
After attaching the markers, he was asked to walk on a force platform, which was videotaped. Analysis of the film
showed that his leg accelerated at −25 m/s2 in the horizontal direction and 140 m/s2 in the vertical direction.
Furthermore, the ground reaction forces were determined to be 2,000N in the vertical direction and −500N in the
horizontal direction. If the mass of the leg is determined to 5 kg, determine the knee joint forces.

෍ 𝐹𝑦 = 𝑚𝑎𝑦
෍ 𝐹𝑥 = 𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝐹𝑔𝑦 + 𝐹𝑘𝑦 − 𝑊 = 5 × (140)
𝐹𝑔𝑥 + 𝐹𝑘𝑥 = 5 × (−25)
2000 + 𝐹𝑘𝑦 − 5 × 9.81 = 700
−500 + 𝐹𝑘𝑥 = −125
𝐹𝑘𝑦 = 700 + 49.05 − 2000
𝐹𝑘𝑥 = 500 − 125 = 375 𝑁
𝐹𝑘𝑦 = −1250.95 𝑁

Md. Hasib Sarowar, Lecturer, Dept. of BME, CUET 34