The design and construction of a new apparatus for measuring the vertical forces exerted in walking: A gait machine

Abstract

A device has been designed and constructed which produces permanent records of the variation with time of the vertical components of forces exerted on the ground by both feet of a human being when walking over a distance of about eleven feet. The device makes use of the elastic displacement of steel diaphragms, the viscous damping of air-free oil and the deflection of collimated beams of ultra-violet light by surface-silvered mirrors actuated by the diaphragms. The records are obtained on photo-sensitive paper. The accuracy of the device, both static and dynamic, is within one per cent. The device, known as a gait machine, has been installed at the Wrightington Hospital (near Wigan) where it replaces a primitive prototype. The machine, which is believed to be the only one of its kind, will be used as a clinical, diagnostic and research tool.