Design of 1-DOF Walking Orthosis for Paralysis Patients

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Walking training is one of the most important rehabilitation processes with paralysis patient. Walking training by using an orthosis can help advancing a patient's independent level. However, existing orthoses have some serious demerit of mechanical problem that the knee joint is locked in the state where it is completely extended, which increases energy consumption and fatigue. For this reason, it is suggested, for more practical orthosis, that the knee joint should be placed and it should have capability of suspending patient's weight. In this paper, 1-DOF walking orthosis which compensates the demerit of the existing orthosis and secures patient's mobility has been proposed. New orthosis has been designed under the following two premises. First, the knee joint of the orthosis was designed fold in order for the orthosis to move in a walking pattern similar to that of a normal person. Second, the knee joint was designed to extend during the swing phase and lock safely during the stance phase.