Equipment and methods for laboratory testing of ankle-foot prostheses as exemplified by the Jaipur foot

Abstract

A load deflection and a cyclic loading apparatus capable of measuring dorsiflexion/plantarflexion, pronation/supination, internal/external rotation, and cyclic dorsiflexion (60 cycles per minute) of ankle-foot prostheses are described. A test protocol was developed to assess the functional parameters of the Jaipur ankle-foot prosthesis before and after prolonged cyclic loading, with the simultaneous aim of evaluating these machines. The results on 26 Jaipur ankle-foot prostheses revealed that: 1) the prosthesis enjoys considerable mobility in three plans, confirming its known versatility; 2) the prosthesis is robust; and, 3) the testing machines deliver reproducible results and are suitable for in-house testing of ankle-foot prostheses.