588872 external_news 1489676504 1489698693 Negotiating uneven ground can be challenging for people who use lower-limb prostheses to walk, so researchers spend time searching for solutions that will allow greater stability in these situations. Manufacturers of prosthetic feet have contributed to a solution by adding multiaxial features that better reproduce the behavior of human ankles, which can stiffen as the terrain warrants. However, School of Biological Sciences Senior Lecturer W. Lee Childers found that there was a lack of evidence evaluating the prosthetic ankle stiffness as it relates to the user’s dynamic balance and gait over uneven terrain. Thus, his continuing research focuses on defining the effect of multiaxial stiffness on gait stability among people with unilateral transtibial amputations....“The main focus of this work was to justify that it is a good thing for prosthetic feet to have multiaxial function,” Childers says, because if it can prevent falls among its users, its value is demonstrated to the payers.

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