Individual muscle contributions to the swing phase of gait: An EMG-based forward dynamics modelling approach

Muscle activation patterns and kinematic conditions at the beginning of the swing phase of gait were used as input to a forward dynamics simulation of the swing leg. A neuromusculoskeletal model was used to account for the non-linearity between muscle excitation and muscle force outputs. Following model tuning a close agreement between simulated and measured swing phase kinematics was obtained. Simulation results suggest that swing leg muscles play an important role in controlling the motion of the swing leg during walking, and that the effect of individual muscles is not necessarily restricted to the joints they span or their basic anatomical classifications. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.