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Zamanian Thesis-12-03-17.pdf (2 MB)

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Toward Creating Normal Ankle Joint Behavior for Drop Foot Patients Using an Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO) with Superplastic NiTi Springs

Zamanian, Hashem
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1501856335099577

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Science, University of Toledo, Bioengineering.
Drop foot is a neuromuscular disorder due partially to the weakness of muscles that lift the forefoot. There are two common complications caused by drop foot. First, the patient cannot control the falling of their foot after heel strike. As a result, the foot slaps the ground on every step. The second complication is the inability of the patients to lift their toe during swing. This causes the patients to drag their toe on the ground throughout the swing. Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO) is the most common non-surgical solution for the Drop foot. In the current AFOs, the ankle joint is almost locked and plantar flexion is restricted due to the high stiffness of the device. In hinged AFOs, while the device is not locked, the stainless steel springs in the hinge could limit the range of motion, lower muscle activity and cause muscle atrophy. This study proposes a novel hinged AFO in which NiTi springs are used to create a close to normal ankle joint behavior. To evaluate the application of NiTi spring in the proposed AFO, several motion experiments have been performed. To assess the effectiveness of the AFO the ankle stiffness has been extracted and compared in different cases along with the range of motion for a healthy subject. Results of our motion experiments indicate ankle stiffness has a nonlinear profile for a healthy subject. A superplastic NiTi spring also has nonlinear behavior in elongation and compression. Considering nonlinear behavior of the NiTi spring, it has been hypothesized that the resulting hinge could bring the stiffness of the ankle closer to that of the healthy ankle joint that could lead to a more natural walking in drop foot patients. In the fabrication procedure, Ni-rich NiTi wires were used to produce two different spring configurations (wire diameters 0.68 and 1.07 mm).To assess the AFO in simulation, the corresponding loading scenarios of normal walking were applied to the AFO using finite elements.
Mohammad Elahinia, (Committee Chair)
Eda Yildirim-Ayan (Committee Co-Chair)
Arunan Nadarajah (Committee Member)
69 p.
Biomechanics; Engineering
Ankle Foot Orthosis , Drop Foot Patients , Superplastic NiTi Springs

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Zamanian, H. (2017). Toward Creating Normal Ankle Joint Behavior for Drop Foot Patients Using an Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO) with Superplastic NiTi Springs [Master's thesis, University of Toledo]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1501856335099577

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Zamanian, Hashem. Toward Creating Normal Ankle Joint Behavior for Drop Foot Patients Using an Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO) with Superplastic NiTi Springs. 2017. University of Toledo, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1501856335099577.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Zamanian, Hashem. "Toward Creating Normal Ankle Joint Behavior for Drop Foot Patients Using an Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO) with Superplastic NiTi Springs." Master's thesis, University of Toledo, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1501856335099577

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

toledo1501856335099577
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This open access ETD is published by University of Toledo and OhioLINK.