Arm swing during human gait has both passive and active components. The chapter presents a study conducted with normal subjects using electromyography (EMG) to describe patterns of arm and shoulder muscle activity in different gait conditions. These included normal forward walking, walking with immobilized arms, backward walking, power walking with accentuated arm swing, running, and load carriage. Complementary kinematic data are presented, too. Rhythmic muscle activity persists to some extent when both arms are immobilized during walking. Forward and backward walking involve dissimilar patterns of muscle activity, although the limb movements are very similar in both conditions. Likewise, power walking and running are characterized by different curves of EMG activity. Unimanual load carriage during walking affects muscle activities of both the loaded and the non-loaded arm. Research on normal arm swing provides a basis for clinical investigations of gait disorders.
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