Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7725-8937

Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Chemical and Biomedical Engineering

Committee Chair

Sergiy Yakovenko

Committee Member

Brock Lindsey

Committee Member

Nicholas Sczcecinski

Committee Member

Jessica Allen

Committee Member

John Krakauer

Abstract

Limb loss poses a significant challenge to mobility and the performance of daily activities. Currently, nearly half of the amputees using powered prosthetics abandon their device due to inadequate limb coordination and movement control abilities. In the healthy system, passive and neural dynamics facilitate the synchronized activation of muscles necessary for coordinated movement. However, in the amputee, the system is disrupted. The goal of this research is to use neural and mechanical dynamics to inform the design of prosthetic devices in order to restore intuitive control and coordinated limb movement.

The first aim of this research is to investigate neural dynamics for prosthetic control, and establish patterns of muscle activity during symmetric and asymmetric precise stepping and apply two common dimensionality reduction techniques to identify independent neuromuscular control signals in an animal model. Future work will be done to incorporate these control signals with musculoskeletal models in order to predict intended movement in the prosthetic limb. We find that there does exist a stereotypical pattern, or template, of muscle activity during the precise stepping task, and a meaningful set of dynamic control signals can be extracted using dimensionality reduction techniques. To investigate mechanical dynamics in the amputee, we studied changes in limb coordination after replacing the socket prosthetic with osseointegrated components. Using an analysis of spatiotemporal gait characteristics, muscle activity and kinematics, we show significant improvements in locomotor coordination in three participants.

The results from this work will guide the development of advanced prosthetic devices that will incorporate dynamic templates of muscle activity into control algorithms and improve mechanical dynamics through osseointegration. This proposed design incorporates neural and mechanical dynamics to improve limb coordination and intuitive control, thereby reducing the rate of prosthetic device abandonment and improving the quality of life for amputees.

Embargo Reason

Publication Pending

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