Study of Locomotor Expectations for Ascending/Descending Slope and Stairs in Patients With Limb Amputations (JCE)

March 18, 2026 updated by: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Dijon

Patients with lower limb amputations are equipped with prostheses that can be mechanical and/or electronic. These prostheses can be mono-articular (only the ankle) or bi-articular (knee and ankle for example). For amputee patients, situations that may seem trivial, such as climbing and descending stairs, become complex. Thus during the descent of stairs, an unamputated person will slow down the descent by contracting the thigh muscles, which are obviously lacking in the amputee patient. Current prostheses, known as "intelligent" (or "microprocessor") prostheses, make it possible to adjust the locomotion only once the first step has been taken and to assist the patient during ascent/descent situations on slopes and stairs. The next technological challenge in the development of lower limb equipment is to be able to anticipate these complex environmental situations, in order to secure and facilitate movement even before the obstacle is crossed or the terrain changed.

This project plans to use the locomotor expectations commonly made during walking as a means of regulating the locomotor pattern. We believe that these expectations will depend on the situation, i.e. a particular anticipation when climbing or descending a slope, or when approaching a staircase, etc. To understand and describe these locomotor expectations, we plan to use recent techniques called supervised machine learning. These will make it possible to classify locomotor behaviour when walking on a slope or stairs. In the second phase, we would like to describe precisely the characteristics of the movements of the joints, and of the muscles during these adaptations. The final objective of this work is to create an autonomous sensor system to control the anticipatory behaviour of a lower limb prosthesis.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

70

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

patients with unilateral major lower limb amputation of any origin and healthy volunteers

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Healthy volunteers:

  • person who has given oral consent
  • male or female adult
  • person being able to understand simple orders, locomotion instructions

Lower limb amputee patients:

  • person who has given oral consent
  • male or female adult
  • patient with unilateral major lower limb amputation of any origin (traumatic, vascular, infectious, congenital or neoplastic) with definitive equipment used routinely for at least 3 months.
  • person able to understand simple orders, locomotion instructions

Exclusion Criteria:

  • person not affiliated or not benefiting from a heath insurance system
  • person subject to a legal protection measure (curatorship, guardianship)
  • person with a legal guardian
  • pregnant or breastfeeding woman
  • adult unable to consent
  • person with a dislocated hip
  • subject with conditions or disabilities other than amputation that affect walking

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
healthy volunteers
2-minute walking test 200-metre walking test
Walking analysis Balance analysis Analysis of the strength of the flexor and extensor muscles of the trunk and lower limb
400-metre walking test 200-metre walking test
patients
patients with lower limb amputations
2-minute walking test 200-metre walking test
Walking analysis Balance analysis Analysis of the strength of the flexor and extensor muscles of the trunk and lower limb
400-metre walking test 200-metre walking test

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The error rate of the algorithm
Time Frame: 2 months
The error rate of the algorithm for predicting the situation encountered in the next step
2 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 20, 2019

Primary Completion (Estimated)

May 1, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 22, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 22, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

July 24, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 20, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 18, 2026

Last Verified

March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CASILLAS 2018-1

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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