The Effect of Load on Movement Coordination during Sled Towing

Towing sleds while walking is a popular resistance exercise for the healthy athlete. One reason for the popularity of sled towing is that it is widely believed to be a ‘functional’ exercise. Preliminary research suggests towing while walking can increases lower extremity moment impulses; however whether towing a sled utilizes the same coordination patterns as un-resisted walking is unknown. While altered patterns may not be as relevant to a healthy athlete, sled towing is also sometimes used in the rehabilitation of athletes who sustained a lower extremity injury (anterior cruciate ligament rupture) with the goal of regaining movement symmetry. The addition of resistance to walking may induce a shift to a coordination patterns not consistent with normal gait and may not aid in the retraining of normal gait movement patterns.