BACKGROUND Altered biomechanics and/or neural control disrupt the timing of postures and muscle patterns necessary for smooth and regular stepping. Harmonic ratio of trunk accelerations has been proposed as a measure of smoothness of walking. We sought to validate this measure of smoothness by examining the measure in groups expected to differ in smoothness (ie, young and old) and across walkin...

People are required to adapt their basic walking pattern to turn and change directions safely for activities of daily living. This case study describes the changes in neuromuscular control among individuals with stroke on walking paths of different curvatures. Two men with hemiparetic stroke and one control subject walked along a straight, wide curved, and tight curved pathway while muscle acti...

We investigated in a study whether humans’ sensitivity to curved walking is affected by their walking velocity. Amongst other techniques, redirecting users of an immersive virtual environment on a curved path is part of the so-called ’Redirected Walking’. We conducted an experiment in which 12 participants walked specific curvatures at given speeds in a VR. We found that people are significantl...

We tested whether the metabolic energy cost of walking with the ankles immobilized can be comparable to normal walking. Immobilization of any lower extremity joint usually causes greater energy expenditure. Fixation of the ankle might be expected to eliminate the work it normally performs, to detrimental effect. But fixation using lightweight boots with curved rocker bottoms can also bring some...

Training subjects to step-in-place eyes open on a rotating platform while maintaining a fixed body orientation in space [podokinetic stimulation (PKS)] produces a posteffect consisting in inadvertent turning around while stepping-in-place eyes closed [podokinetic after-rotation (PKAR)]. Since the rationale for rehabilitation of curved walking in Parkinson's disease is not fully known, we tested...

Dynamically stable biped robots mimicking human locomotion have received significant attention over the last few decades. Formerly, the existence of stable periodic gaits for straight walking of passive biped walkers was well known and investigated as the notion of passive dynamic walking. This study is aimed to elaborate this notion in the case of three dimensional (3D) walking and extend it f...

Many researchers have successfully designed and built dynamic bipedal walkers with curved feet. The design process for these walkers, however, is typically based on intuition and/or poorly documented, suggesting the opportunity for improvements to be made through more systematic design. The most energy efficient bipeds have curved feet, as studies have shown that replacing point feet with curve...

We asked whether podokinetic adaptation to walking on a circular treadmill transfers to different forms of locomotion. Subjects were blindfolded and asked to walk straight across the floor, in the forward and backward directions, following podokinetic (PK) stimulation that consisted of 30 min of forward walking-in-place on the perimeter of a disk rotating in the clockwise direction. During both...