This study investigated the accuracy and reliability of four methods using force-plate data for detecting the swing heel-off (HO) time in gait initiation. Results of these methods were compared to those obtained by means of a reference method using a footswitch. Ten young healthy adults performed 18 forward gait initiation trials at self-selected speed and at maximal speed. Results showed that ...

In many simple walking models, foot placement dictates the center of pressure location and ground reaction force components, whereas humans can modulate these aspects after foot contact. Because of the differences, it is unclear to what extent predictions made by models are valid for human walking. Yet, both model simulations and human experimental data have previously indicated that the center...

Much is known about human walking, but it is not known how walking is used during typical activities. Since improving walking ability is a key goal in many surgical, pharmacological, and physiotherapeutic interventions, understanding typical community mobility demands regarding the length of walking bouts, the number of sequential steps frequently performed, and the duration of common nonwalkin...

The issue of pedestrian-friendly urban environments has been of increasing importance lately in urban planning and design. In order to develop a better knowledge about the walkability of the built environment, it is important to understand the complexity behind walking behavior. Since different kinds of walking activities vary in their goal, effort, frequency, duration, etc., they also vary in ...

In two experiments participants were asked to walk inside the city Hradec Králové along a track, which consisted of streets with various amounts of vegetation and various degrees of traffic intensity. The walking speed was measured in eight selected sections. The environmental properties of the sections were estimated by raters, who described a level of naturalness of a place, intensity of traf...

turner syndrome is one of the best known chromosome anomalies in human being, by an approximate incidence of 1/2500 female at birth. the cause is a chromosomal aberration, mainly with the karyotype 45, x. ninety six patients aged 6 to 26 years with short stature were studied for chromosomal anomalies. out of these 82 were phenotypically female and 14 phenotypically male. twenty seven showed abn...

Achieving a soft landing during walking can be quantified by analyzing changes in the vertical velocity of the body center of mass (CoM) just prior to the landing of the swing limb. Previous research suggests that walking speed and step length may predictably influence the extent of this CoM control. Here we ask how stable this control is. We altered treadmill walking speed by systematically in...

Changes in pedality can occur in animals due to injury, congenital defects, or behaviour. Here, an attempt is made to reproduce similar conditions on a nominally quadrupedal robot upon losing functionality in one leg, rendering it tripedal. The change in walking speed and energy efficiency are examined for both quadrupedal amble and basic tripedal walking gaits.

The relationship between biomechanical action and perception of self-motion during walking is typically consistent and well-learned but also adaptable. This perceptual-motor coupling can be recalibrated by creating a mismatch between the visual information for self-motion and walking speed. Perceptual-motor recalibration of locomotion has been demonstrated through effects on subsequent walking ...