Author ORCID Identifier
Stergiou - https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9737-9939
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-27-2019
Abstract
During walking, uneven terrain alters the action of the ground reaction force from stride to stride. The extent to which such environmental inconsistencies are withstood may be revealed by the regulation of whole-body angular momentum (L) during walking. L quantifies the balance of momenta of the body segments (thigh, trunk, etc.) about their combined center of mass, and remains close to zero during level walking. A failure to constrain L has been linked to falls. The aim of this study was to explore the ability of young adults to orchestrate their movement on uneven terrain, illustrated by the range of L (LR) and its variability (vLR). In eleven male adults, we observed significant increases in sagittal plane LR, and vLR in all three planes of motion during walking on an uneven in comparison to a flat surface. No reductions in these measures were observed within a 12-minute familiarisation period, suggesting that unimpaired adults either are unable to, or do not need to eliminate the effects of uneven terrain. Transverse plane LR, in contrast, was lower on immediate exposure, and then increased, pointing to the development of a less restrictive movement pattern, and would support the latter hypothesis.
Journal Title
Scientific Rports
Volume
9
Recommended Citation
Kent, J.A., Sommerfeld, J.H., & Stergiou, N. (2019, November 27). Changes in human walking dynamics induced by uneven terrain are reduced with ongoing exposure, but a higher variability persists. Scientific Reports, 9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-54050-z
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Copyright held by authors. This article was originally published in by Nature Portfolio in Scientific Reports volume 9 and can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-54050-z