Hip, Knee, Ankle Kinematics And Kinetics During Stair Ascent

Clinical Biomechanics 22 (2007) 203–210 www.elsevier.com/locate/clinbiomech

Hip, knee, ankle kinematics and kinetics during stair ascent and descent in healthy young individuals
Anastasia Protopapadaki a, Wendy I. Drechsler a,*, Mary C. Cramp a, Fiona J. Coutts b, Oona M. Scott a
a

School of Health and Biosciences, University of East London, Romford Road, Stratford, London E15 4LZ, UK bSchool of Health Sciences, Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh, UK Received 12 January 2006; accepted 19 September 2006

Abstract Background. Few studies have reported the biomechanical aspects of stair climbing for this ergonomically demanding task. The purpose of this ethically approved study was to identify normal functional parameters of the lower limb during stair climbing and tocompare the actions of stair ascent and descent in young healthy individuals. Methods. Thirty-three young healthy subjects, (16 M, 17 F, range 18–39 years) participated in the study. The laboratory staircase consisted of four steps (rise height 18 cm, tread length 28.5 cm). Kinematic data were recorded using 3D motion analysis system. Temporal gait cycle data and ground reaction forces were recordedusing a force platform. Kinetic data were standardized to body mass and height. Findings. Paired-samples t tests showed significantly greater hip and knee angles (mean difference standard deviation (SD): hip 28.10° (SD 4.08), knee 3.39° (SD 7.20)) and hip and knee moments (hip 0.25 N m/kg (SD 0.18), knee 0.17 N m/kg (SD 0.15)) during stair ascent compared to descent. Significantly greater ankledorsiflexion angles (9.90° (SD 3.80)) and plantarflexion angles (8.78° (SD 4.80)) were found during stair descent compared to ascent. Coefficient of variation (mean (SD)) in percentage between repeated tests varied for joint angles and moments, respectively (2.35% (SD 1.83)–17.53% (SD 13.62)) and (4.65% (SD 2.99)–40.73% (SD 24.77)). Interpretation. Stair ascent was shown to be the more demandingbiomechanical task when compared to stair descent for healthy young subjects. The findings from the current study provide baseline measures for pathological studies, theoretical joint modelling, and for mechanical joint simulators. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Stair climbing; Motion analysis; Kinematics; Kinetics

1. Introduction Stair climbing is a common activity of daily life.Kinematic and kinetic studies have shown that, in comparison to level walking, larger ranges of knee flexion angle and knee flexion moment are required during stair climbing (Andriacchi et al., 1980; Jevsevar et al., 1993). Andriacchi et al. (1980) found the maximum external knee flexion

*

Corresponding author. E-mail address: w.drechsler@uel.ac.uk (W.I. Drechsler).

moment during stair ascentto be three times greater than level walking and maximum hip flexion moments during stair descent to be a maximum of 1.5 times greater than level walking. Jevsevar et al. (1993) found an average of 98.6° (SD 6.5°) of knee flexion was required to ascend stairs, 90.3° (SD 4.9°) of knee flexion to descend stairs and 64.6° (SD 6.7°) of knee flexion to walk on level ground. Analysis of the biomechanicalrequirements involved in stair climbing can add to our understanding of the diverse demands of this common activity in human locomotion. In comparison to level walking, only a small number of studies have investigated normal human stair ascent and

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A. Protopapadaki et al. /Clinical Biomechanics 22 (2007) 203–210

descent (Andriacchi et al., 1980; Costigan et al., 2002; Kowalk et al., 1996; Livingston et al., 1991; McFadyen and Winter, 1988; Riener et al., 2002). Researchers have also used stair climbing to describe changes in a patient’s functional performance following knee arthroplasty (Andriacchi et al., 1982; Andriacchi and Galante, 1988), anterior cruciate...