Interlimb Coordination of Ground Reaction Forces during Double Stance Phase at Fast Walking Speed

A complete gait cycle begins when one foot makes contact with the ground, and ends when that same foot makes contact with the ground again. It is made up of two phases: Stance phase: part of the foot is touching the ground; Swing phase: that same foot isn’t touching the ground. And stance is considered as the most important phase of the gait cycle because this is when the foot and leg bear your body weight.  

In this study, to better understand interlimb coordination during the double stance phase at fast walking speeds, the authors analyzed ground reaction forces generated by the leading and trailing limbs during the double stance phase at multiple speeds. Ground reaction forces were recorded during the double stance phase at slow, self-selected, and fast walking speeds in eleven healthy volunteers. They calculated the instantaneous phase of the ground reaction forces for the vertical and anterior-posterior components, and then calculated the relative phase between the leading and trailing limbs for each component. Eleven healthy males participated in this study. The mean (± one standard deviation [SD]) age of the subjects was 24.3 ± 3.7 years old; the average height and mass of the subjects were 1.76 ± 0.06 m and 74.1 ± 12.1 kg, respectively.

For the vertical component, the relative phase showed a significantly lower value in the fast condition than in the other two conditions in the early-double stance phase (fast vs. self-selected, p < 0.01; fast vs. slow, p < 0.001). For the anterior-posterior component, the relative phases in the early- and late-double stance phases in all speed conditions were significantly smaller than those in the mid-double stance phase.

These findings suggest that interlimb coordination of the forces exerted by the leading and trailing limbs in the early-double stance phase would be an important factor for walking at fast speed. And the findings may be available for an assessment of gait ability in clinical situations.

Article by Yoichiro Sato and Norimasa Yamada, from Japan.

Full access: http://mrw.so/53XpQC

Image by matt edward, from Flickr-cc.