Stair climbing

About: Stair climbing is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1610 publications have been published within this topic receiving 30504 citations.

Turning type stair climbing robot with foldable swing arms

Abstract: The invention discloses a turning type stair climbing robot with foldable swing arms, and belongs to the technical field of investigation, search and rescue and exploring robots. The turning type stair climbing robot with the foldable swing arms comprises a wheel type movable platform, the swing arms, a turning shaft, a drive wheel, a driven wheel and a turning motor; the turning motor is installed in the wheel type movable platform, and the drive wheel is fixed coaxially to an output shaft of the turning motor; the turning shaft is installed on the wheel type movable platform, and the drivenwheel is coaxially fixed to the middle of the turning shaft and meshed with the drive wheel; the two swing arms of the same structure are installed at the two ends of the turning shaft respectively and located on the two sides of the wheel type movable platform respectively in a walking direction, and can be folded. The turning type stair climbing robot can solve the problem that swing arms of anexisting turning type robot are not foldable, as a result, the swing arms cannot be used during throwing, and portability is poor.

Incidence of Anterior Knee Pain and Functional Difficulty in a Prospectively Recruited Cohort following Total Knee Arthroplasty with Selective Patellar Resurfacing.

Abstract: The influence of patellar resurfacing on anterior knee pain, stair climbing, and functional activity outcomes following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) are incompletely understood. This study examined the influence of patellar resurfacing on patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) relating to anterior knee pain and function.The Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score of Joint Replacement (KOOS, JR.) patient PROMs were collected preoperatively and at 12 months follow-up for 950 TKAs performed over five years. Indications for patellar resurfacing included Grade IV patello-femoral (PFJ) changes or mechanical PFJ findings during patellar trialing. Patellar resurfacing was performed on 393 (41%) of the 950 TKAs performed. Multivariable binomial logistic regressions were performed, using KOOS, JR. questions assessing pain during stair climbing, standing upright, and function during rising from sitting as surrogates for anterior knee pain. Independent regression models were performed for each of the targeted KOOS, JR. questions, with adjustment for age at surgery, sex, and baseline pain and function.No association was observed between 12-month postoperative anterior knee pain or function with patellar resurfacing (P=0.17, 0.97). Patients who had moderate or greater preoperative pain on stairs had an increased likelihood of postoperative pain and functional difficulty (odds ratio 2.3, P=0.013), while males were 42% less likely to report postoperative anterior knee pain (odds ratio 0.58, P=0.002).Selective patellar resurfacing based on PFJ degeneration and mechanical PFJ symptoms produces similar improvement in PROMs for resurfaced and unresurfaced knees.

Development of a Biomechanical Model to Study the Effects of Lifting Load on Sciatic Pain

Abstract: Sciatica is a frequently encountered leg pain that originates in the human lower back and travels down the buttocks through the large sciatic nerve present in the back of the leg. Due to lifting heavy loads at different angles, the humans could acquire sciatica at different levels. Thus, the reason of using biomechanical model was to mimic the human spine in such a way that the increased force while lifting the load could easily be measured. This could help to beware the humans to not lifting load at these angles. This paper presents the findings of an experiment conducted to measure the increased forces at 6 different angles i.e. 95°, 105°, 115°, 125°, 135° and 145°. Experiments were carried out by connecting the model and a load cell with PASCO CAPSTONE. Results were concluded using both statistical and graphical analysis. The resultant force increased as the angle of bending was increased due to increased load on the back model. Stair climbing is one of the unique exercises which is frequently used and helps in maintaining the leg muscles active and healthy.

Wheelchair capable of walking up and down stairs

Abstract: The invention discloses a wheelchair capable of walking up and down stairs. The wheelchair comprises a wheel carrier, wherein the top surface of the wheel carrier is provided with a seat; the wheel carrier comprises two strip-shaped brackets which are arranged horizontally in parallel; the inner sides of the two strip-shaped brackets are provided with connecting frames, and the two ends of the connecting frames are connected with the strip-shaped brackets respectively; the outer sides of the front and back ends of the strip-shaped brackets are provided with electric walking wheels for walking; the lower surfaces of the front and back ends of the strip-shaped brackets are provided with frame legs extending downwards and vertically respectively; a stair climbing device which is parallel to the strip-shaped bracket is further arranged between the two frame legs; the front end and the back end of the stair climbing device are provided with elastic connectors, and are connected with the frame legs respectively; the stair climbing device is provided with a plurality of stair climbing wheels for climbing stairs along the frontward-backward direction; the lowest points of the stair climbing wheels are higher than the lowest points of the electric walking wheels. The wheelchair has the advantages of simple structure, convenience in operation, low manufacturing cost, capability of walking up and down stairs stably, high stability, capability of preventing overturning and high climbing efficiency.

The Influence of Carrying Anterior Load on the Sagittal and Frontal Plane Kinematics of Lower Extremities during Stair Ascending

Abstract: Background: Anterior load carriage is a one of the commonly performed activities in some industries. Stair climbing while carrying anterior load significantly alters different biomechanical mechanisms that can potentially affect the musculoskeletal function of the lower extremities. Objective: The study aims to assess the effect of carrying an anterior load (20% of body weight) on lower extremity kinematics during the kinematical phases of stairs ascent (weight acceptance, pull up, forward continuance, and swing phase).Material and Methods: In this experimental study, data were collected through the use of a custom made wooden staircase and OPtiTrack motion capture system was composed of 12 infrared cameras and a per modeled reflective marker set. Sixteen female college students volunteered to conduct two tasks of ascending stairs with and without an anterior load of approximately 20% of their body weight. The collected frontal and sagittal plane lower extremity joint angles were calculated using MATLAB software (version R2015a). Statistical comparison between the two study tasks was made using IBM SPSS Statistics software (version 25.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: Based on the results, there is significant difference (p-value < 0.05) between the two study tasks during ascending stair phases in all three sagittal plan lower extremity joint angles. Conclusion: Anterior load carried during stair ascent causes participants to depend more on the hip joint (higher flexion angles) compared to stair ascent without loads, which may increase the risk of falls and injuries, and the importance of muscle-strengthening activities and highlight the use of appropriate technique during load carriage