Characteristics of the muscle activities of the elderly for various pressure in the pneumatic actuator of lower limb orthosis

There developed a lower limb orthosis with a pneumatic rubber actuator, which can assist and improve the muscular activities in the lower limb of the elderly. For this purpose, the characteristics of the lower limbs muscle activities for various pressures in the pneumatic actuator for the lower limb orthosis was investigated. To find out the characteristics of the muscle activities for various pneumatic pressures, it analyzed the flexing and extending movement of the knees, and measured the lower limbs muscular power. The subjects wearing the lower limbs orthosis were instructed to perform flexing and extending movement of the knees. The variation in the air pressure of the pneumatic actuator was varies from one kgf/cm ² to four kgf/cm ². The muscular power was measured by monitoring electromyogram using MP100 (BIOPAC Systems, Inc.) and detailed three-dimensional motions of the lower limbs were collected by APAS 3D Motion Analysis system. Through this study, it expected to find the most suitable air pressure for the improvement of the muscular power of the aged.