Climbing stairs places a greater load on lower limb joints compared to walking on level ground. Variations in anatomical structures and muscle characteristics between genders suggest potential differences in the distribution of required mechanical work among the three lower limb joints. This study aimed to identify gender disparities in the allocation of mechanical work to lower limb joints during stair climbing. A total of thirty-six adults (equally divided between men and women) participated in the study. Participants ascended stairs equipped with force plates at their comfortable speeds, while motion was captured using nine cameras. Inverse dynamics analysis was employed to calculate the mechanical work performed by each joint during four phases of stance: weight acceptance, pull-up, forward continuation, and push-up. Male participants exhibited significantly higher mechanical work than females at the hip and ankle joints (p < 0.05) from the 1st- 3rd phases and the 2nd phase, respectively. Conversely, female subjects displayed greater knee joint work during the 2nd- 3rd phases (p < 0.05). Notably, a pronounced gender difference was observed during the 2nd pull-up phase, where body mass is lifted by a single leg. These findings suggest that men and women employ distinct strategies in distributing mechanical work across lower limb joints.

The objective of this paper is to propose a new technology of the orthopaedic surgery using the combination of reverse engineering (RE) based on CT data and rapid prototyping (RP). The proposed technology utilizes symmetrical characteristics of the human body and capability of the combination of RE and RP, which rapidly manufactures three￢dimensional parts from CT data. The original .stl data of injured extents are generated from the mirror transformation of .stl file for uninjured extents. The physical shape before injuring is manufactured from RP using the original .stl data. Subsequently, pre-operative planning, such as a selection of proper implants, preforming of the implant, a decision of fixation locations and an insert position for the implant, an estimation of the invasive size, and pre-education of operators are performed using the physical shape. In order to examine the applicability and the efficiency of the proposed surgical technology, various case studies, such as a distal tibia comminuted fracture, a proximal tibia plateau fracture and an iliac wing fracture of pelvis, are carried out. From the results of case studies, it has been shown that the proposed technology is an effective surgical tool of the orthopaedic surgery reducing the operational time, the operational cost, the radiation exposure of the patient and operators, and morbidity. In addition, the proposed technology could improve the accuracy of operation and the speed of rehabilitation.