Investigation of the performance of an ischial load-bearing leg brace

Partition of loads between the human leg and its protective brace was investigated during the normal walking stride of a patient fitted with a conventional ischial weight-bearing leg brace. Strain-gage force transducers were designed and installed to measure loads in the brace, and a strain-gage force plate was built to measure the floor reaction of the patient's footstep. The load measured by the force plate is equal to the total load carried by the leg and the brace, and it was resolved into components along axes fixed with respect to the leg and compared with the force carried by the leg brace to determine the distribution of the load between the brace and leg. Curves of force in three orthogonal directions and torque about the vertical axis of the leg are presented and discussed.