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Interpreting Ground Reaction Forces in Gait

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Handbook of Human Motion

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Abstract

This chapter provides a description of ground reaction forces (GRFs) in gait, detailing the technology used to measure them and their use in gait analysis. Representative ground reaction force data is provided, and information on how data is analyzed and interpreted is discussed. In addition, examples of how GRF data has been used to gain an understanding of healthy and pathological gait (scoliosis, cerebral palsy, stroke, multiple sclerosis) are provided and discussed. This chapter highlights that the GRF is an essential part of any clinical gait analysis and contributes to both surgical and conservative clinical management involving gait.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Gait events as defined by Perry and Burnfield (2010) are included in the following descriptive account to support the interpretation of the three components of the GRF across the stance phase (IC, initial contact; LR, loading response; MS, mid-stance; TS, terminal stance; PS, pre-swing;swing phase).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health Sciences, Staffordshire University, Stoke On Trent, UK

    Nachiappan Chockalingam, Aoife Healy & Robert Needham

Authors
  1. Nachiappan Chockalingam
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  2. Aoife Healy
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  3. Robert Needham
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nachiappan Chockalingam .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Motion & More, Barcelona, Spain

    Bertram Müller

  2. Klinik für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgi, Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Sebastian I. Wolf

  3. Institut for Biomechanics und Orthopedic, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Gert-Peter Brueggemann

  4. Houston, Texas, USA

    Zhigang Deng

  5. ACRISP, FedUniversity, Cremorne, New South Wales, Australia

    Andrew McIntosh

  6. Wilmington, Delaware, USA

    Freeman Miller

  7. Research, C-Motion, Inc., Germantown, Maryland, USA

    William Scott Selbie

Section Editor information

  1. Movement Analysis Laboratory, Clinic for Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery; Center for Orthopedics, Trauma Surgery and Spinal Cord Injury;Heidelberg University Hospital, Schlierbacher Landstr. 200a, 69118, Heidelberg, Germany

    Sebastian I. Wolf

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Chockalingam, N., Healy, A., Needham, R. (2016). Interpreting Ground Reaction Forces in Gait. In: Müller, B., et al. Handbook of Human Motion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30808-1_31-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30808-1_31-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30808-1

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