Abstract   The simple passive dynamic walker can walk down a shallow downhill slope with no external control or energy input. Nevertheless, the period-one gait stability is only possible over a very narrow range of slopes. Since the passive gaits are extremely sensitive to slope angles, it is important to use a control strategy in order to achieve a wide range of stable walking. The computed to...

Despite continual fluctuations in walking surface properties, humans and animals smoothly transition between terrains in their natural surroundings. Walking transitions have the potential to influence dynamic balance in both the anterior-posterior and medial-lateral directions, thereby increasing fall risk and decreasing mobility. The goal of the current manuscript is to provide a review of the...

In daily life, walking is one of the most energy consumed activity. There are many researches’ focuses on energy expenditure estimation using GPS and 3-axis accelerometer for location tracking and activity monitoring. However, in the case of walking on a slope, GPS location tracking method and 3-axis accelerometer method are failed to estimate the energy consumption while walking on a slope. In...

In this paper we propose an approach for the estimation of the slope of the walking surface during normal walking using a body-worn sensor composed of a biaxial accelerometer and a uniaxial gyroscope attached to the shank. It builds upon a state of the art technique that was successfully used to estimate the walking velocity from walking stride data, but did not work when used to estimate the s...

BACKGROUND Treadmill animal models are commonly used to study effects of exercise on bone. Since mechanical loading induces bone strain, resulting in bone formation, exercise that induces higher strains is likely to cause more bone formation. Our aim was to investigate the effect of slope and additional load on limb bone strain. METHODS Horizontal and vertical ground reaction forces on left f...

Amputee patients spend more energy during walking than able-bodied persons. It is generally accepted that more proximal amputation is associated with more energy need. However, the picture is not clear, especially for partial foot amputees. The purpose of this study was to compare the energy consumption of walking in traumatic unilateral amputees with three different amputation levels (trans-fe...

Previous studies have shown that inclusion of arm swing in gait rehabilitation leads to more effective walking recovery in patients with walking impairments. However, little is known about the correct arm-swing trajectories to be used in gait rehabilitation given the fact that changes in walking conditions affect arm-swing patterns. In this paper we present a comprehensive look at the effects o...

BACKGROUND Inclined or slippery surfaces and various other types of obstacles are common demands in our environment. Dogs with impaired locomotion might have difficulties to manage rough terrain. Gait analyses using force plates or pressure plates, which are well established to characterize limb loads in human medicine as well as in animals, are mostly limited to level surfaces. Therefore, the ...

The soleus H-reflex amplitude is deeply modulated during locomotion in humans (Capaday and Stein, 1986). Moreover, at a constant stimulus intensity, the slope of the relationship between the amplitude of the soleus H-reflex and the background electromyogram (EMG) changes with different locomotor tasks (Capaday and Stein, 1987a). Two further aspects are studied here. First, we recorded the refle...