scholarly journals Simple models highlight differences in the walking biomechanics of young children and adults

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian L. Rose ◽  
Christopher J. Arellano
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Metabolic Energy ◽  
Specific Work ◽  
Step Frequency ◽  
Cost Of Transport ◽  
Double Support ◽  
Walking Biomechanics ◽  
Step Transition ◽  
Work Done ◽  
Positive Work

Adults conserve metabolic energy during walking by minimizing the step-to-step transition work performed by the legs during double support and by utilizing spring-like mechanisms in their legs, but little is known as to whether children utilize these same mechanisms. To gain a better understanding, we studied how children (5-6 years) and adults modulate the mechanical and metabolic demands of walking at their preferred speed, across slow (75%), preferred (100%), and fast (125%) step frequencies. We quantified the 1) positive mass-specific work done by the trailing leg during step-to-step transitions and 2) the leg's spring-like behavior during single support. On average, children walked with a 36% greater net cost of transport (COT; J/kg/m) than adults (p=0.03), yet both groups increased their net COT at varying step frequencies. After scaling for speed, children generated ∼2-fold less trailing limb positive scaled mechanical work during the step-to-step transition (p=0.02). Unlike adults, children did not modulate their trailing limb positive work to meet the demands of walking at 75% and 125% of their preferred step frequency. In single support, young children operated their stance limb with much greater compliance than adults (k̂= 6.23 vs. 11.35; p=.023). Our observations suggest that the mechanics of walking in children 5-6 years are fundamentally distinct from the mechanics of walking in adults and may help to explain a child's higher net COT. These insights have implications for the design of assistive devices for children and suggest that children cannot be simply treated as scaled down versions of adults.

scholarly journals Simple models highlight differences in the walking biomechanics of young children and adults

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian L. Rose ◽  
Christopher J. Arellano
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Metabolic Energy ◽  
Specific Work ◽  
Step Frequency ◽  
Cost Of Transport ◽  
Double Support ◽  
Walking Biomechanics ◽  
Step Transition ◽  
Work Done ◽  
Positive Work

Adults conserve metabolic energy during walking by minimizing the step-to-step transition work performed by the legs during double support and by utilizing spring-like mechanisms in their legs, but little is known as to whether children utilize these same mechanisms. To gain a better understanding, we studied how children (5-6 years) and adults modulate the mechanical and metabolic demands of walking at their preferred speed, across slow (75%), preferred (100%), and fast (125%) step frequencies. We quantified the 1) positive mass-specific work done by the trailing leg during step-to-step transitions and 2) the leg's spring-like behavior during single support. On average, children walked with a 36% greater net cost of transport (COT; J/kg/m) than adults (p=0.03), yet both groups increased their net COT at varying step frequencies. After scaling for speed, children generated ~2-fold less trailing limb positive scaled mechanical work during the step-to-step transition (p=0.02). Unlike adults, children did not modulate their trailing limb positive work to meet the demands of walking at 75% and 125% of their preferred step frequency. In single support, young children operated their stance limb with much greater compliance than adults (k ̂= 6.23 vs. 11.35; p=.023). Our observations suggest that the mechanics of walking in children 5-6 years are fundamentally distinct from the mechanics of walking in adults and may help to explain a child's higher net COT. These insights have implications for the design of assistive devices for children and suggest that children cannot be simply treated as scaled down versions of adults.

scholarly journals Contributions of metabolic and temporal costs to human gait selection

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (143) ◽  
pp. 20180197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik M. Summerside ◽  
Rodger Kram ◽  
Alaa A. Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Movement Time ◽  
Metabolic Cost ◽  
Metabolic Energy ◽  
Human Gait ◽  
Cost Of Transport ◽  
Relative Value ◽  
Weighted Combination

Humans naturally select several parameters within a gait that correspond with minimizing metabolic cost. Much less is understood about the role of metabolic cost in selecting between gaits. Here, we asked participants to decide between walking or running out and back to different gait specific markers. The distance of the walking marker was adjusted after each decision to identify relative distances where individuals switched gait preferences. We found that neither minimizing solely metabolic energy nor minimizing solely movement time could predict how the group decided between gaits. Of our twenty participants, six behaved in a way that tended towards minimizing metabolic energy, while eight favoured strategies that tended more towards minimizing movement time. The remaining six participants could not be explained by minimizing a single cost. We provide evidence that humans consider not just a single movement cost, but instead a weighted combination of these conflicting costs with their relative contributions varying across participants. Individuals who placed a higher relative value on time ran faster than individuals who placed a higher relative value on metabolic energy. Sensitivity to temporal costs also explained variability in an individual's preferred velocity as a function of increasing running distance. Interestingly, these differences in velocity both within and across participants were absent in walking, possibly due to a steeper metabolic cost of transport curve. We conclude that metabolic cost plays an essential, but not exclusive role in gait decisions.

scholarly journals Idealized walking and running gaits minimize work

2007 ◽  
Vol 463 (2086) ◽  
pp. 2429-2446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manoj Srinivasan ◽  
Andy Ruina
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Optimization ◽  
Phase Plane ◽  
Step Length ◽  
Metabolic Energy ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
High Speeds ◽  
Locomotor Patterns ◽  
Positive Work ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Trajectory Problem

Even though human legs allow a wide repertoire of movements, when people travel by foot they mostly use one of two locomotor patterns, namely, walking and running. The selection of these two gaits from the plethora of options might be because walking and running require less metabolic energy than other more unusual gaits. We addressed this possibility previously using numerical optimization of a minimal mathematical model of a biped. We had found that, for a given step-length, the two classical descriptions of walking and running, ‘inverted pendulum walking’ and ‘impulsive running’, do indeed minimize the amount of positive work required at low and high speeds respectively. Here, for the case of small step-lengths, we establish the previous results analytically. First, we simplify the two-dimensional particle trajectory problem to a one-dimensional ‘elevator’ problem. Then we use elementary geometric arguments on the resulting phase plane to show optimality of the two gaits: walking at low speeds and running at high speeds.

The cost of transport of human running is not affected, as in walking, by wide acceleration/deceleration cycles

2013 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 498-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto E. Minetti ◽  
Paolo Gaudino ◽  
Elena Seminati ◽  
Dario Cazzola
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiments ◽  
Metabolic Cost ◽  
Constant Speed ◽  
Metabolic Energy ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Cost Of Transport ◽  
Unit Distance ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Speed Fluctuations ◽  
Human Running

Although most of the literature on locomotion energetics and biomechanics is about constant-speed experiments, humans and animals tend to move at variable speeds in their daily life. This study addresses the following questions: 1) how much extra metabolic energy is associated with traveling a unit distance by adopting acceleration/deceleration cycles in walking and running, with respect to constant speed, and 2) how can biomechanics explain those metabolic findings. Ten males and ten females walked and ran at fluctuating speeds (5 ± 0, ± 1, ± 1.5, ± 2, ± 2.5 km/h for treadmill walking, 11 ± 0, ± 1, ± 2, ± 3, ± 4 km/h for treadmill and field running) in cycles lasting 6 s. Field experiments, consisting of subjects following a laser spot projected from a computer-controlled astronomic telescope, were necessary to check the noninertial bias of the oscillating-speed treadmill. Metabolic cost of transport was found to be almost constant at all speed oscillations for running and up to ±2 km/h for walking, with no remarkable differences between laboratory and field results. The substantial constancy of the metabolic cost is not explained by the predicted cost of pure acceleration/deceleration. As for walking, results from speed-oscillation running suggest that the inherent within-stride, elastic energy-free accelerations/decelerations when moving at constant speed work as a mechanical buffer for among-stride speed fluctuations, with no extra metabolic cost. Also, a recent theory about the analogy between sprint (level) running and constant-speed running on gradients, together with the mechanical determinants of gradient locomotion, helps to interpret the present findings.

scholarly journals Evidence for energy savings from aerial running in the Svalbard rock ptarmigan ( Lagopus muta hyperborea )

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1718) ◽  
pp. 2654-2661 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Nudds ◽  
L. P. Folkow ◽  
J. J. Lees ◽  
P. G. Tickle ◽  
K.-A. Stokkan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Expenditure ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Metabolic Energy ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Cost Of Transport ◽  
Walking Gait ◽  
High Speeds ◽  
Lagopus Muta ◽  
Metabolic Energy Expenditure ◽  
First Time

Svalbard rock ptarmigans were walked and run upon a treadmill and their energy expenditure measured using respirometry. The ptarmigan used three different gaits: a walking gait at slow speeds (less than or equal to 0.75 m s −1 ), grounded running at intermediate speeds (0.75 m s −1 < U < 1.67 m s −1 ) and aerial running at high speeds (greater than or equal to 1.67 m s −1 ). Changes of gait were associated with reductions in the gross cost of transport (COT; J kg −1 m −1 ), providing the first evidence for energy savings with gait change in a small crouched-postured vertebrate. In addition, for the first time (excluding humans) a decrease in absolute metabolic energy expenditure (rate of O 2 consumption) in aerial running when compared with grounded running was identified. The COT versus U curve varies between species and the COT was cheaper during aerial running than grounded running, posing the question of why grounded running should be used at all. Existing explanations (e.g. stability during running over rocky terrain) amount to just so stories with no current evidence to support them. It may be that grounded running is just an artefact of treadmill studies. Research investigating the speeds used by animals in the field is sorely needed.

Mechanical work, oxygen consumption, and efficiency in isolated frog and rat muscle

1987 ◽  
Vol 253 (1) ◽  
pp. C22-C29 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. C. Heglund ◽  
G. A. Cavagna
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Consumption ◽  
Rana Esculenta ◽  
Time Integral ◽  
Wistar Strain ◽  
Measured Efficiency ◽  
Tension Time ◽  
Second Procedure ◽  
Work Done ◽  
Positive Work

The total work done during shortening, in repeated stretch-shortening cycles and the subsequent recovery oxygen consumption were measured in isolated frog (Rana esculenta) sartorius at 12 degrees C and rat (Wistar strain) extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and soleus at 20 degrees C. Two procedures were followed. In the first, the muscles were lengthened in the relaxed state and stimulated isometrically just before and during the first part of shortening. The peak efficiency (positive work done divided by the energetic equivalent of the oxygen consumed) was approximately 25% at 0.75–1.5 muscle lengths/s (Lo/s) in sartorius, 19% at 1.0 Lo/s in EDL, and 15% at 0.5 Lo/s in the soleus. In contrast to the measured efficiency values, the ratio between the tension-time integral and the oxygen consumption (the economy) is greater in soleus than in EDL. In the second procedure, stimulation began before stretching and continued during the first part of shortening. In this case, the efficiency attained values of approximately 35% in sartorius, 50% in EDL, and 40% in soleus. These values are in rough agreement with those measured in vivo during running.

scholarly journals Muscle–Tendon Behavior and Kinetics in Gastrocnemius Medialis During Forefoot and Rearfoot Strike Running

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Tomonari Takeshita ◽  
Hiroaki Noro ◽  
Keiichiro Hata ◽  
Taira Yoshida ◽  
Tetsuo Fukunaga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sampling Rate ◽  
Mechanical Work ◽  
Treadmill Running ◽  
Initial Contact ◽  
Step Frequency ◽  
Fascicle Length ◽  
Gastrocnemius Medialis ◽  
Foot Strike ◽  
Work Done ◽  
Kinetics Of

The present study aimed to clarify the effect of the foot strike pattern on muscle–tendon behavior and kinetics of the gastrocnemius medialis during treadmill running. Seven male participants ran with 2 different foot strike patterns (forefoot strike [FFS] and rearfoot strike [RFS]), with a step frequency of 2.50 Hz and at a speed of 2.38 m/s for 45 seconds on a treadmill with an instrumented force platform. The fascicle behavior of gastrocnemius medialis was captured using a B-mode ultrasound system with a sampling rate of 75 Hz, and the mechanical work done and power exerted by the fascicle and tendon were calculated. At the initial contact, the fascicle length was significantly shorter in the FFS than in the RFS (P = .001). However, the fascicular velocity did not differ between strike patterns. Higher tendon stretch and recoil were observed in the FFS (P < .001 and P = .017, respectively) compared with the RFS. The fascicle in the positive phase performed the same mechanical work in both the FFS and RFS; however, the fascicle in the negative phase performed significantly greater work in the FFS than in the RFS (P = .001). RFS may be advantageous for requiring less muscular work and elastic energy in the series elastic element compared with the FFS.

Mechanical power and work of cat soleus, gastrocnemius and plantaris muscles during locomotion: possible functional significance of muscle design and force patterns.

1996 ◽  
Vol 199 (4) ◽  
pp. 801-814 ◽  
Author(s):  
B I Prilutsky ◽  
W Herzog ◽  
T L Allinger
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Activity ◽  
Mechanical Energy ◽  
Fibre Length ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
The Body ◽  
Mechanical Power ◽  
Step Cycle ◽  
Extensor Muscles ◽  
Work Done ◽  
Positive Work

Electrical activity, forces, power and work of the soleus (SO), the gastrocnemius (GA) and the plantaris (PL) muscles were measured during locomotion in the cat in order to study the functional role of these ankle extensor muscles. Forces and electrical activity (EMG) of the three muscles were measured using home-made force transducers and bipolar, indwelling wire electrodes, respectively, for walking and trotting at speeds of 0.4 to 1.8 m s-1 on a motor-driven treadmill. Video records and a geometrical model of the cat hindlimb were used for calculating the rates of change in lengths of the SO, GA and PL muscles. The instantaneous maximum possible force that can be produced by a muscle at a given fibre length and the rate of change in fibre length (termed contractile abilities) were estimated for each muscle throughout the step cycle. Fibre lengths of the SO, GA and PL were calculated using a planar, geometrical muscle model, measured muscle forces and kinematics, and morphological measurements from the animal after it had been killed. Mechanical power and work of SO, GA and PL were calculated for 144 step cycles. The contribution of the positive work done by the ankle extensor muscles of one hindlimb to the increase of the total mechanical energy of the body (estimated from values in the literature) increased from 4-11% at speeds of locomotion of 0.4 and 0.8 m s-1 to 7-16% at speeds of 1.2 m s-1 and above. The relative contributions of the negative and positive work to the total negative and positive work done by the three ankle extensor muscles increased for GA, decreased for SO and remained about the same for PL, with increasing speeds of locomotion. At speeds of 0.4-0.8 m s-1, the positive work normalized to muscle mass was 7.5-11.0 J kg-1, 1.9-3.0 J kg-1 and 5.3-8.4 J kg-1 for SO, GA and PL, respectively. At speeds of 1.2-1.8 m s-1, the corresponding values were 9.8-16.7 J kg-1, 6.0-10.7 J kg-1 and 13.4-25.0 J kg-1. Peak forces of GA and PL increased and peak forces of SO did not change substantially with increasing speeds of locomotion. The time of decrease of force and the time of decrease of power after peak values had been achieved were much shorter for SO than the corresponding times for GA and PL at fast speeds of locomotion. The faster decrease in the force and power of SO compared with GA and PL was caused by the fast decrease of the contractile abilities and the activation of SO. The results of this study suggest that the ankle extensor muscles play a significant role in the generation of mechanical energy for locomotion.

Mechanical work for step-to-step transitions is a major determinant of the metabolic cost of human walking

2002 ◽  
Vol 205 (23) ◽  
pp. 3717-3727 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Maxwell Donelan ◽  
Rodger Kram ◽  
Arthur D. Kuo
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Center Of Mass ◽  
Metabolic Cost ◽  
Step Length ◽  
Mechanical Work ◽  
Major Determinant ◽  
Fourth Power ◽  
Mass Motion ◽  
Step Frequency ◽  
Positive Work

SUMMARY In the single stance phase of walking, center of mass motion resembles that of an inverted pendulum. Theoretically, mechanical work is not necessary for producing the pendular motion, but work is needed to redirect the center of mass velocity from one pendular arc to the next during the transition between steps. A collision model predicts a rate of negative work proportional to the fourth power of step length. Positive work is required to restore the energy lost, potentially exacting a proportional metabolic cost. We tested these predictions with humans (N=9) walking over a range of step lengths(0.4-1.1 m) while keeping step frequency fixed at 1.8 Hz. We measured individual limb external mechanical work using force plates, and metabolic rate using indirect calorimetry. As predicted, average negative and positive external mechanical work rates increased with the fourth power of step length(from 1 W to 38 W; r2=0.96). Metabolic rate also increased with the fourth power of step length (from 7 W to 379 W; r2=0.95), and linearly with mechanical work rate. Mechanical work for step-to-step transitions, rather than pendular motion itself, appears to be a major determinant of the metabolic cost of walking.

Biomechanical Effects of Different Footwear on Steady State walking

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Saad Jawaid Khan ◽  
Abu Zeeshan Bari ◽  
Soobia Saad Khan ◽  
Muhammad Tahir Khan
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Sagittal Plane ◽  
Transverse Plane ◽  
Metabolic Energy ◽  
Joint Moments ◽  
Gait Parameters ◽  
Subjective Preference ◽  
Spatial Parameters ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Work Done

The objective of this work is to evaluate the biomechanical effects of footwear on steady state walking of a user. An initial subjective preference of the footwear was identified which was validated biomechanically in relation to the kinetic parameters of gait. The subject underwent 3D gait analysis (using VICON Motion Capture System, UK) under four conditions: barefoot, with formal shoes, with casual shoes and with sandals. ANOVA and Paired t-test of Temporal Spatial Parameters (TSP), joint powers and joint moments (a = 0.05), for the four conditions in sagittal plane showed that there were significant differences found in TSP's, joint moments and work done, but not in joint powers. The behaviour of formal shoes was significantly different in the frontal and transverse plane moments and had the most profound effect on the joints. Although several hypotheses on the implications of footwear on the gait parameters are proposed, these require further investigation, supplemented with electromyography (EMG) and metabolic energy measurements for a larger population.

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