%0 Journal Article %A Safaeepour, Zahra %A Esteki, Ali %A Shamloo, Abdollah %A Tabatabai, Farhad %T Evaluation of a Viscoelastic Ankle-Foot Prosthesis at Slow and Normal Walking Speeds on an Able-Bodied Subject %J Iranian Rehabilitation Journal %V 13 %N 4 %U http://irj.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-495-en.html %R %D 2015 %K Ankle-foot prosthesis, Walking speed, Ankle damping, Viscoelastic, %X Objectives: This paper describes further improvement and preliminarily evaluation of a novel viscoelastic ankle-foot prosthesis prototype. The objective was to control the ankle hysteresis at slow and normal walking speeds. Methods: Inspired by the ankle biomechanics, in which the hysteresis differs based on the gait speeds, a manually damping control mechanism imbedded in the prosthesis for adjusting the ankle damping at slow and normal walking speeds. The prototype was then preliminarily tested on an able-bodied subject wearing an adaptor which simulates the amputee walking. The ankle joint kinetics and kinematics were measured in a gait analysis lab at different walking speeds. Results: The results suggest that the viscoelastic ankle foot prosthesis prototype could provide a smooth normal-like walking for most of the measured gait characteristics in slow and normal speeds. Discussion: Therefore, it is suggested to apply a controllable damping mechanism based on the gait speeds in the design of new prosthetic feet. %> http://irj.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-495-en.pdf %P 63-67 %& 63 %! %9 Case Reports %L A-10-360-2 %+ University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. %G eng %@ 17353602 %[ 2015