Journal
JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS
Volume 43, Issue 5, Pages 938-944Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2009.10.049
Keywords
Centre of mass; Walking; Gait; 3D-trajectory; Instrumented treadmill
Categories
Funding
- Universita degli Studi di Milano
- Istituto Auxologico Italian, IRCCS
- FISM [2005/R/20]
- Italian Ministry of Health
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Three-dimensional (3D) path of the body centre of mass (CM) over an entire stride was computed from ground reaction forces during walking at constant average speed on a treadmill mounted on 3D force sensors. Data were obtained from 18 healthy adults at speeds ranging from 0.30 to 1.40 m s(-1), in 0.1 m s(-1) increments. Six subsequent strides were analyzed for each subject and speed (total strides = 1296). The test session lasted about 30 min (10 min for walking). The CM path had an upward concave figure-of-eight shape that was highly consistent within and across subjects. Vertical displacement of the CM increased monotonically as a function of walking speed. The forward and particularly lateral displacements of the CM showed a U-shaped relationship to speed. The same held for the total 3D displacement (25.6-16.0 cm, depending on the speed). The results provide normative benchmarks and suggest hypotheses for further physiologic and clinical research. The familiar inverted pendulum model might be expanded to gyroscopic, spin-and-turn models. Abnormalities of the 3D path might flag motor impairments and recovery. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available