Roll-over shapes of the human foot/ankle complex

Roll-over shapes of the human foot/ankle complex are shown for three subjects walking at five different self-selected walking speeds (very slow, slow, normal, fast, very fast). The results indicate that the roll-over shape of the foot does not change dramatically from heel contact to opposite heel contact at these different speeds and that the foot/ankle complex could be approximated using a passive structure during this period of the gait cycle. Both of these aspects seem promising for the future development of prosthetic feet. A prosthetic foot that deforms to a proper roll-over shape may perform similarly to the human foot/ankle complex for any walking speed. The findings of this work may also be useful in other areas of prosthetics and orthotics research and rehabilitation.