A Kinematic Model of the Human Ankle

The spatial gross motion of the foot with respect to the shank is modelled as rotations about two fixed ankle axes: the upper ankle rotation axis (plantar flexion/dorsiflexion) and the subtalar rotation axis (inversion/eversion). The positions of the axes are determined by externally visible bony landmarks of the lower leg, and are measured for a living subject. The model input data are the plantar flexion/dorsiflexion and inversion/eversion rotation angles; the model output is a 4 X 4 transformation matrix which quantitatively describes the relative position of a foot coordinate system with respect to a shank coordinate system.