Patient-specific Walking Aiding Mechanism for a Patient with Paralyzed Hip: A Case Study

Muscle weakness is one of the main reasons for the impaired gait patterns. Weakness in hip abductor muscle results in pelvic instability during the stance phase. Therefore, subject specicity plays an important role in designing an orthotic for a patient with weaker or paralyzed muscles. This study is aimed to design a patient-specic walking aiding orthotics for a patient with a paralyzed hip. First an efficient mechanism has been designed to perform the locomotion of the leg followed by an engineering material selection. Then a dynamic study of the affected leg has been conducted to identify the demanded patient-specific forces and torques. Later, engineered orthotic has been tested for possible failures using finite element analysis. The proposed device will provide a solution to the gait difficulties of this patient while minimizing the unnecessary loadings on his controlateral hip.