Developing a Gait Enhancing Mobile Shoe to alter over-ground walking coordination

This paper presents a Gait Enhancing Mobile Shoe (GEMS) that mimics the desirable kinematics of a split-belt treadmill except that it does so over ground. Split-belt treadmills, with two separate treads running at different speeds, have been found useful in the rehabilitation of persons with asymmetric walking patterns. Although in preliminary testing, beneficial after-effects have been recorded, various drawbacks include the stationary nature of the split-belt treadmill and the inability to keep a person on the split-belt treadmill for an extended period of time. For this reason, the after-effects for long-term gait training are still unknown. The mobile ability of the GEMS outlined in this paper enables it to be worn in different environments such as in one´s own house and also enables it to be worn for a longer period of time since the GEMS is completely passive. Healthy subject testing has demonstrated that wearing this shoe for twenty minutes can alter the wearer´s gait and will generate after-effects in a similar manner as a split-belt treadmill does.