Citation

Sato Y, Yamada N. Gait Posture 2017; 54: 295-299.

Affiliation

Department of Sport and Physical Education, School of Health and Sport Sciences, Chukyo University, Toyota, Japan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.gaitpost.2017.03.026

PMID

28391176

Abstract

Although it was reported that ground reaction forces (GRFs) are generated simultaneously by the leading and trailing limbs during the double stance phase, the finding was not examined by temporal analyses. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to clarify how GRFs can act to propel the body in a forward direction during the double stance phase. GRFs were recorded during the double stance phase in eleven healthy volunteers. We calculated the instantaneous phase of the GRFs for vertical and anterior-posterior (AP) components, and then calculated the relative phase between the leading and trailing limbs for each component. The relative phase of the vertical component was approximately 180° (i.e., anti-phase), indicating that the lower limb transfers weight smoothly from the trailing limb to the leading limb. The relative phase of the AP component ranged from 40 to 55°, indicating that the AP component of the forces do not occur simultaneously, but instead has a lag. This finding suggests that the forces exerted by the leading and trailing limbs would temporally coordinate to propel the body in the forward direction.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Biomechanics; Double stance phase; Gait; Human; Temporal coordination