METHOD AND ORTHOPEDIC APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING BACKWARD PUSH BY WEAKENED MUSCLES OF LOWER EXTREMITY'S DISTAL PART Russian patent published in 1997 - IPC

FIELD: medical engineering; orthopedic prostheses (ortheses) and orthopedic prosthetics. SUBSTANCE: invention novelty of proposed method resides in increasing distance between hip joint and foot toes. For this purpose, ankle joint is blocked, knee joint is deblocked, followed by causing muscles to generate moment of force in hip joint. method is practised with help of orthopedic apparatus, novelty of which resides in that its knee joint is made of lock-less-type and knee joint center is shifted forwards to distance 0≅X≅5 cm in relation to axial lines of splints applied onto hip and shin. These two splints are connected with respected head pieces of knee joint's hip and shin splints. Apparatus also comprises metal insole provided with spring device adapted to accommodate toes, and with positioners adapted to cooperate with ribs formed on shin splints, clearance between shin splint and forward positioner ranging between 3 and 5 mm. EFFECT: invention permits to use healthy proximal muscles of invalid's leg for effecting backward push during walking and to minimize [physical effort required for this purpose. 7 dwg