Computer Simulation of Lower Extremities Movement during Stair Climbing
Tracking of human body motion is applied in many fields, such as virtual reality, clinical biomechanics, the study of man-machine-environment relationship, the analysis of sports movements, etc. Nowadays, the preferred approach to tracking human body motion is based on the use of appropriate optical or magnetic markers, which are placed on specific landmark points, and real-time estimating of their spatial coordinates. With the improvements introduced in computerized monitoring of human motion kinematics, it is important to emphasize the significance of combining motion capture data with commercial CAD packages. The aim of this research was to develop new interactive methods in creating virtual models within the highly sophisticated CAD computer technologies, as well as computer simulations for analyzing the various forms of human locomotion. Within this research, special attention is focused on the study of locomotion when climbing stairs, as an activity that requires large amount of metabolic energy, and thus represents great difficulty in performing daily activities for people with disorders of the musculoskeletal system, and particularly for people with lower limb amputation.