Abstract
To investigate walkability of ramps, walking patterns of 18 healthy adults,12 aged 20 to 26 and 6 aged 68 to 76,were studied at free,rhythm constrained walking up or down ramp using goniometer and footswitch Ramp inclinations were set 4,8,12,16,20 degrees. The results were as follows. 1)The step length of subjects were decreased significantly in12$^{\circ}C$′or 16′free downramp walking. With regard to step length, some subject groups walked abnormally in 16" or 20" ramp walking 2) The step width of subjects were increased significantly in 12" or 16" ramp walking. 3) The cadence duration of some subject groups were increased in 12" upramp walking. 4) The double stance duration and double stance ratio of some subject groups were increased significantly in 8",12", or 16"upramp walking. 5) The maximum knee flexion angle of stance phase were increased in 12" ramp walking. 6)Most temporal parameters and spatial parameters of gait were increased or decreassd greatly between 4" ramp and 8" ramp or between 8′ramp and 12′ramp. But statistics significancy were not recognized 7) The results suggest that ramp inclination less than 8′(14%) -12′(21%) is desirable for the normal gait the ramp inclination must not exceed 16" -20" in unavoidable circumstances.