Background The cushioning of running shoes and leg stiffness influence tibial impact shock [1]. This knowledge, however, is based on investigations with the same cushioning at both feet. Unknown is whether leg stiffness can be adjusted for each leg individually. Thus, the purpose of this study was to quantify effects of differently cushioned running shoes at the left and right foot on running s...

Aging is associated with increased arterial stiffness (pulse wave velocity, PWV) and muscle strength/mass loss. Exercise training alone is not always effective to improve PWV and lean mass (LM) in older women. To investigate the independent and combined effects of whole-body vibration training (WBVT) and L-citrulline supplementation on PWV and muscle function in women, forty-one postmenopausal ...

Humans and birds both walk and run bipedally on compliant legs. However, differences in leg architecture may result in species-specific leg control strategies as indicated by the observed gait patterns. In this work, control strategies for stable running are derived based on a conceptual model and compared with experimental data on running humans and pheasants (Phasianus colchicus). From a mode...

Running efficiently and successfully over unstructured terrain is an important and necessary characteristic for modern legged robots. Research suggests that a necessary step toward achieving this goal is to design legged robots with variable leg stiffness capabilities which can be controlled by the robot autonomously. The specific problem addressed in this research is to develop a wireless (inf...

Mammals use the elastic components in their legs (principally tendons, ligaments, and muscles) to run economically, while maintaining consistent support mechanics across various surfaces. To examine how leg stiffness and metabolic cost are affected by changes in substrate stiffness, we built experimental platforms with adjustable stiffness to fit on a force-plate-fitted treadmill. Eight male su...

Recent developments in dynamic legged locomotion have focused on encoding a substantial component of leg intelligence into passive compliant mechanisms. One of the limitations of this approach is reduced adaptability: the final leg mechanism usually performs optimally for a small range of conditions (i.e. a certain robot weight, terrain, speed, gait, and so forth). For many situations in which ...

Human running is characterized by comparably simple whole-body dynamics. These dynamics can be modelled with a point mass bouncing on a spring leg. Theoretical studies using such spring-mass models predict that running can be self-stable. In simulations, this self-stability allows for running on uneven ground without paying attention to the ground irregularities. Whether humans actually use thi...

While the spring-like leg behavior of legs in mammalian locomotion has been well documented, its neural basis remains ambiguous. The purpose of the present study was to examine leg stiffness control during hopping. Seven male subjects performed in place two-legged hopping at their preferred frequency with two different contact times of the stance phase, preferred and short ones (PCT and SCT, re...

The objective of this study was to examine the contribution of intrinsic ankle stiffness to leg-spring stiffness in high level athletes using various musculotendinous solicitations. 8 aerobic gymnasts (G), 10 long-distance runners (R) and 7 controls (C) were evaluated using quick-release and sinusoidal perturbation tests in order to quantify their respective plantarflexor musculotendinous ( SI(...