Experimental Measurement and Analysis of Knee Flexion Angle as a Biomechanical Parameter for Obesity

Abstract

Walking or gait is the systematic study of human locomotion using visual observation, video cameras, sensors or combination of these technologies. Abnormalities of the gait can be observed in obese, Parkinson’s disease and those having biomechanical disorders. Obesity may be considered as a complicated disease and situation which leads to major health problems. During walking, the joints of lower extremities are subjected to enormous forces and moments. Experimentally the walking of normal and obese subjects was video recorded by Microsoft Kinect camera. Simultaneously, the EMG (electromyography) signals were measured by Delsys Trigono EMG instrument through its electrodes placed over gastrocnemius muscles of the leg. Both the measured data was stored in the computer and analyzed. It has observed that the knee flexion angle is smaller by 30 % than the normal subjects of the same age group. Therefore, the knee flexion angle could be used as a biomechanical parameter to distinguish between normal and obese people which could help them to control the obesity, otherwise more serious health complications are possible.