Abstract

Walking is one of the activities that produce a significant magnitude to joint reaction forces and stresses of human bone. Walking on different ground surfaces contributes to the different loads and stresses, particularly on femur bone. Other than uneven surfaces, walking on certain slope surfaces could also affect the magnitude of joint forces. Therefore, finite element analysis (FEA) was employed in this study to simulate the effect of walking on different slope angles for both incline-decline towards stress and strain responses of the femur bone. A three dimensional (3D) geometrical model of the femur was developed and converted to 3D finite element model. The loading conditions and constraints that reflect to walking on different sloped surfaces were applied on femoral head and patellar surface. Failure risk, stress-strain distribution and maximum stress-strain on femur were obtained from the simulation. The results show that the increase of sloped angles contributes to the increase of von Mises stress and strain as well as maximum principal stress and strain. The study provides an additional insight on the risk of injury due to incline-decline walking for certain angle of slopes.

Keyword

Femur, Knee Joint, Joint reaction force, Finite element analysis, Incline walking.

Cite this article

Wei YC, Basaruddin KS, Mat F, Daud R, Safar MJ, Hoang T

Refference

[1][1]Yoshida H, Faust A, Wilckens J, Kitagawa M, Fetto J, Chao EY. Three-dimensional dynamic hip contact area and pressure distribution during activities of daily living. Journal of Biomechanics. 2006; 39(11):1996-2004.

[2][2]Yang Z, Qu F, Liu H, Jiang L, Cui C, Rietdyk S. The relative contributions of sagittal, frontal, and transverse joint works to self-paced incline and decline slope walking. Journal of Biomechanics. 2019; 92:35-44.

[3][3]Kitamura K, Fujii M, Utsunomiya T, Iwamoto M, Ikemura S, Hamai S, et al. Effect of sagittal pelvic tilt on joint stress distribution in hip dysplasia: a finite element analysis. Clinical Biomechanics. 2020; 74:34-41.

[4][4]Zeng W, Liu Y, Hou X. Biomechanical evaluation of internal fixation implants for femoral neck fractures: a comparative finite element analysis. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine. 2020.

[5][5]Ferraro RA. The Effect of an incline walking surface and the contribution of balance on spatiotemporal gait parameters of older adults. Seton Hall University; 2010.

[6][6]Yamin NA, Amran MA, Basaruddin KS, Salleh AF, Rusli WM. Ground reaction force response during running on different surface hardness. ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences. 2017; 12(7):2313-8.

[7][7]Sakamoto K, Hara Y, Shimazu A, Hirohashi K. Stress distribution at hip joint during level walking. In Hip Biomechanics 1993 (pp. 11-20). Springer, Tokyo.

[8][8]Lay AN, Hass CJ, Nichols TR, Gregor RJ. The effects of sloped surfaces on locomotion: an electromyographic analysis. Journal of Biomechanics. 2007; 40(6):1276-85.

[9][9]Kimel-naor S, Gottlieb A, Plotnik M. The effect of uphill and downhill walking on gait parameters: a self-paced treadmill study. Journal of Biomechanics. 2017; 60:142-9.

[10][10]Soangra R, Bhatt H, Rashedi E. Effects of load carriage and surface inclination on linear and non-linear postural variability. Safety Science. 2018; 110:427-37.

[11][11]Sun J, Walters M, Svensson N, Lloyd D. The influence of surface slope on human gait characteristics: a study of urban pedestrians walking on an inclined surface. Ergonomics. 1996; 39(4):677-92.

[12][12]Alexander N, Strutzenberger G, Ameshofer LM, Schwameder H. Lower limb joint work and joint work contribution during downhill and uphill walking at different inclinations. Journal of Biomechanics. 2017; 61:75-80.

[13][13]Basaruddin KS, Kamarrudin NS, Ibrahim I. Stochastic multi-scale analysis of homogenised properties considering uncertainties in cellular solid microstructures using a first-order perturbation. Latin American Journal of Solids and Structures. 2014; 11(5):755-69.

[14][14]Wanna SB, Basaruddin KS, Som MM, Sulaiman AR, Shukrimi A, Khan SF, et al. Fracture risk prediction on children with osteogenesis imperfecta subjected to loads under activity of daily living. In IOP conference series: materials science and engineering 2018 (pp.1-5). IOP Publishing.

[15][15]Vieira MF, Rodrigues FB, Esouza GS, Magnani RM, Lehnen GC, Campos NG, et al. Gait stability, variability and complexity on inclined surfaces. Journal of Biomechanics. 2017; 54:73-9.

[16][16]Da CBR, Vieira MF. Postural control of elderly adults on inclined surfaces. Annals of Biomedical Engineering. 2017; 45(3):726-38.

[17][17]Dutt-mazumder A, King AC, Newell KM. Recurrence dynamics reveals differential control strategies to maintain balance on sloped surfaces. Gait & Posture. 2019; 69:169-75.

[18][18]Ho KY, French T, Klein B, and Lee Y. Patellofemoral joint stress during incline-decline running. Physical Therapy in Sport: Official Journal of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports Medicine. 2018; 34:136-40.

[19][19]Koo S, Park MS, Chung CY, Yoon JS, Park C, Lee KM. Effects of walking speed and slope on pedobarographic findings in young healthy adults. Plos One. 2019; 14(7).

[20][20]Gholizadeh H, Lemaire ED, Sinitski EH. Transtibial amputee gait during slope walking with the unity suspension system. Gait & Posture. 2018; 65:205-12.

[21][21]Damavandi M, Dixon PC, Pearsall DJ. Ground reaction force adaptations during cross-slope walking and running. Human Movement Science. 2012; 31(1):182-9.

[22][22]Abdulhasan ZM, Buckley JG. Gait termination on declined compared to level surface; contribution of terminating and trailing limb work in arresting centre of mass velocity. Medical Engineering & Physics. 2019; 66:75-83.

[23][23]Breloff SP, Wade C, Waddell DE. Lower extremity kinematics of cross-slope roof walking. Applied Ergonomics. 2019; 75:134-42.

[24][24]Alexander N, Schwameder H. Effect of sloped walking on lower limb muscle forces. Gait & Posture. 2016; 47:62-7.

[25][25]Kwee-meier ST, Mertens A, Jeschke S. Age-induced changes in the lower limb muscle activities during uphill walking at steep grades. Gait & Posture. 2018; 62:490-6.

[26][26]Haggerty M, Dickin DC, Popp J, Wang H. The influence of incline walking on joint mechanics. Gait & Posture. 2014; 39(4):1017-21.

[27][27]Silverman AK, Wilken JM, Sinitski EH, Neptune RR. Whole-body angular momentum in incline and decline walking. Journal of Biomechanics. 2012; 45(6):965-71.

[28][28]Leroux A, Fung J, Barbeau H. Postural adaptation to walking on inclined surfaces: I. Normal strategies. Gait & Posture. 2002; 15(1):64-74.

[29][29]Mcintosh AS, Beatty KT, Dwan LN, Vickers DR. Gait dynamics on an inclined walkway. Journal of Biomechanics. 2006; 39(13):2491-502.

[30][30]Rooney BD, Derrick TR. Joint contact loading in forefoot and rearfoot strike patterns during running. Journal of Biomechanics. 2013; 46(13):2201-6.

[31][31]Edwards WB, Gillette JC, Thomas JM, Derrick TR. Internal femoral forces and moments during running: implications for stress fracture development. Clinical Biomechanics. 2008; 23(10):1269-78.

[32][32]Wang Y, Chen D, Zhang Y, Niu Y, Yang X. Effect of plantar pressure on stepping friction under cross‐slope condition. Biosurface and Biotribology. 2022; 8(1):15-22.

[33][33]Willwacher S, Fischer KM, Benker R, Dill S, Brüggemann GP. Kinetics of cross-slope running. Journal of Biomechanics. 2013; 46(16):2769-77.

[34][34]Pathak P, Ahn J. A pressure-pad-embedded treadmill yields time-dependent errors in estimating ground reaction force during walking. Sensors. 2021; 21(16):1-14.

[35][35]Sedaghatnezhad P, Shams M, Karimi N, Rahnama L. Uphill treadmill walking plus physical therapy versus physical therapy alone in the management of individuals with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized clinical trial. Disability and Rehabilitation. 2021; 43(18):2541-9.

[36][36]Masood Z, Kobsar D. The effects of incline walking on gait asymmetry and impact accelerations in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage. 2021; 29:S76-7.

[37][37]Huijben B, Van SKS, Van DJH, Pijnappels M. The effect of walking speed on quality of gait in older adults. Gait & Posture. 2018; 65:112-6.

[38][38]Keyak JH, Rossi SA, Jones KA, Skinner HB. Prediction of femoral fracture load using automated finite element modeling. Journal of Biomechanics. 1997; 31(2):125-33.