Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Program/Concentration

Kinesiology and Rehabilitation

Committee Director

Hunter J. Bennett

Committee Member

Stacie I. Ringleb

Committee Member

Brittany S. Samulski

Abstract

Lower extremity loss affects nearly 150,000 individuals in the United States yearly yielding extreme health care costs annually. Typically, prosthetic devices are prescribed for 5-8 years despite known changes to an individual’s gait as time progresses. Patients can expect to undergo approximately 8-12 weeks of gait retraining to improve their comfort and efficiency. Biomechanical changes occur when running with a specific running prosthetic including considerable biomechanical and neuromuscular interlimb asymmetries and alterations in loading patterns. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the biomechanical demands for lower extremity prosthesis users during running. The first study synthesized peer reviewed evidence through a systematic review of electromyography during walking and running tasks. Thirteen studies determined a significant gap in literature surrounding a) electromyography placement standards and b) standardized normalization methods. Despite those limitations, 54% of the articles identified increased muscle activity in the non-amputated limb compared to the amputated limb. The second study explored an in-situ method for assessing prosthetic device stiffness utilizing 3-dimensional motion capture and force plate kinetics, building upon current methods that employ machine testing. Two participants volunteered for this study with two different prosthetic devices. The results of this investigation uncovered a more viscoelastic than elastic nature of the prosthesis through higher stiffness values, a pinched hysteresis curve, and higher loading rates, which cannot be replicated with machine testing, suggesting pertinence to implement an in-situ method. Lastly, the third study focuses on determining the effect of prosthesis stiffness on running kinetics, spatiotemporal metrics and electromyography. Six participants volunteered for this investigation; five running specific prosthetic devices were borrowed from Hopper, Inc. for testing. Each participant ran on two different prostheses, one that was their prescribed stiffness and one either higher or lower than their prescribed stiffness. Three-dimensional motion capture, surface electromyography and force plate kinetics were collected for all running trials. Through single subject and group-wise analyses, this study found few significant differences between limb and across conditions despite differences in prescribed prosthetic stiffness. As running mechanics were more robust than expected, these findings support the need to reevaluate current manufacturer recommendations and clinical guidelines for prescription.

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DOI

https://doi.org/10.25777/ywdp-0f68

ISBN

9798197809285

ORCID

0009-0009-3269-2244

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