Computational Modelling of Human Lower Limb for Reproduction of Walking Dynamics with Muscles: Healthy and Pathological Cases

This work comprises the use of a biomechanical model of the human lower limb proposed by Geyer and Herr in 2010, possessing the reproduction of the human skeletal, muscular and neural systems to simulate human gait. This approach was used to study characteristic parameters at joint level, such as range of motion and torques, during physiological and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) pathological gait. The model kinematics when simulating healthy gait were in very good agreement with kinematics reported in literature. Regarding to the kinetics, the ankle joint torque plot was corroborated with literature, whilst the hip and knee torques presented differences both in magnitude and in shape. The implementation of pathology consisted of penalizing the torque produced by the muscles, namely the quadriceps and hamstrings, affected by an ACL injury after surgical reconstruction and rehabilitation. Healthy and pathological cases were compared. The variable closer to literature was the knee angle, whilst the other kinetic and kinematic data differed. This strategy aims at aiding the development of more efficient rehabilitation strategies to be prescribed after an ACL injury. These and other issues will be object of study in the context of this investigation.