Book Description

Gait Analysis Laboratory is a comprehensive, interactive package for the study of human gait. It includes a text, IBM-compatible software, and an accompanying software manual. Everyone from undergraduate students to research professionals should find it easy to study over 250 variables involved in human gait with this package. And, this resource provides a study of gait in three dimensions instead of two. The book and software make the theory and tools of gait analysis available to anyone with a basic knowledge of mechanics and anatomy and with access to a personal computer, including researchers in biomechanics, kinesiology, biomedical engineering, and the movement sciences in general; students and teachers in physical education and physical therapy; and clinicians in orthopaedic surgery, physical therapy, podiatry, rehabilitation, neurology, and sports medicine. Dynamics of Human Gait text: the text - a theoretical introduction to human gait - contains five chapters. Chapter One explains the walking human as a series of interconnected systems that form the framework for detailed gait analysis. Chapter Two emphasizes the three-dimensional and cyclic nature of human gait.Chapter Three integrates anthropometric, kinematic, and force-plate data to form a 3D analysis of gait. Chapter Four describes the basics of electromyography. And Chapter Five contains a case study of the gait patterns of a person with a movement disability. GaitLab software: the GaitLab software contains three separate programs - Gaitmath, Gaitplot, and Animate - that help users apply the theoretical information in the text. Gaitmath allows users to input data to calculate five sets of parameters for gait - body segment parameters, linear kinematics, centres of gravity, angular kinematics, and dynamics of joints. Gaitplot plots these parameters graphically in many combinations. It also includes an animation program that models data from Gaitmath into a simple moving figure. Researchers and students can input the sample data provided - or, with the necessary gait analysis hardware, they can capture their own data and use the Gaitplot and Gaitmath programs to bring their data to life. The Animate program illustrates the gait patterns. Users can view colour-coded sequences of a nondisabled man walking on a treadmill.They can see how muscle activity, joint moments, and ground reaction forces are integrated. A freeze-frame function allows users to stop and look at any phase of the gait cycle. The accompanying software manual gives users all the information they need to run the software successfully. Hardware compatibility: the Gaitmath and Gaitplot programs can be run on any IBM or IBM-compatible personal computer equipped with a hard disk drive and a CGA monitor or a monochrome monitor with a graphics adapter. The Animate program requires an EGA or VGA card and monitor. This package should help everyone from student to professional understand the complexities of human gait.