UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Author: search.filters.author.Borrelli, JamesSubject: search.filters.subject.Engineering, Mechanical

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    Comparison of Assistive Mobility Devices with Axillary Supports
    (2006-12-15) Borrelli, James; Haslach, Henry; Mechanical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Assistive ambulatory devices with axillary supports are compared using a multidisciplinary approach. Axillary supports are commonly referred to as "shoulder supports" on standard crutches. A framework is presented that compares axillary supports based on loading characteristics during initial contact and during a stride. The underlying goal of this research is to lay the foundation for an axillary support design that is safe. The force normal to the axillary support of two types of assistive devices, axillary crutches and the Strutter, is found experimentally for 2-point gait and 2-point gait with no hands. A dynamic model is developed to estimate the force tangential to the axillary support required for axillary crutches and the Strutter to have the same stride time. Models for the Strutter are also developed to study the response of the axillary support to impact loads due to initial contact.