When untrained subjects walk backward on a treadmill, an unexpectedly large amplitude soleus H-reflex occurs in the midswing phase of backward walking. We hypothesized that activity in the corticospinal tract (CST) during midswing depolarizes the soleus alpha-motoneurons subliminally and thus brings them closer to threshold. To test this hypothesis, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was a...

We investigated corrective reactions for backward balance losses during walking. Several biomechanical studies have suggested that backward falling can be predicted from the horizontal position and velocity of the body center of mass (COM) related to the stance foot. Our hypothesis was that corrective reactions for backward balance losses depend on whether the body moves forward or backward aft...

Cataglyphis ants are renowned for their impressive navigation skills, which have been studied in numerous experiments during forward locomotion. However, the ants' navigational performance during backward homing when dragging large food loads has not been investigated until now. During backward locomotion, the odometer has to deal with unsteady motion and irregularities in inter-leg coordinatio...

OBJECTIVE This study examined test-retest relative (intraclass correlation coefficient) and absolute (minimum detectable change) reliabilities for heart rate, blood pressure, rate of perceived exertion, and the cerebral oxygen response during both forward and backward treadmill walking in clients with Parkinson disease. In addition, the intensity of exercise based on the individual's heart rate...

Understanding how animals control locomotion in different behaviors requires understanding both the kinematics of leg movements and the neural activity underlying these movements. Stick insect leg kinematics differ in forward and backward walking. Describing leg muscle activity in these behaviors is a first step toward understanding the neuronal basis for these differences. We report here the p...

The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether adaptations of stride length, stride frequency, and walking speed, independently influence local dynamic stability and the size of the medio-lateral and backward margins of stability during walking. Nine healthy subjects walked 25 trials on a treadmill at different combinations of stride frequency, stride length, and consequently at di...

Backward walking is used increasingly as a rehabilitation exercise for stroke and diabetic peripheral neuropathy patients to improve strength balance. However, it unclear how visual referencing affects backward forward walking. In this study, we evaluated spatiotemporal gait characteristics changes due while backward/forward Sixteen healthy young participants were recruited in study. All walked...

Human walking is remarkably adaptable on short and long timescales. We can immediately transition between directions and gait patterns, and we can adaptively learn accurate calibrations for different walking contexts. Here we studied the degree to which different motor patterns can adapt independently. We used a split-belt treadmill to adapt the right and left legs to different speeds and in di...