Spatiotemporal characteristics of the walk-to-run and run-to-walk transition when gradually changing speed

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine spatiotemporal parameters of the walk-to-run transition (WRT) and run-to-walk transition (RWT) when speed is altered with different constant accelerations. Twenty women (height: 168.9 AE 3.36 cm) performed three accelerations (0.05, 0.07 and 0.1 m s À2) and three decelerations (À0.05, À0.07 and À0.1 m s À2) on a motor-driven treadmill. The transition step in the WRT (first step with a flight phase) and RWT (first step with a double stance phase) occurred at the same speed for all accelerations but these did not occur in the same way. The most striking difference was the presence of a transition step with specific spatiotemporal characteristics in the WRT, whereas this was not observed in the RWT.The transition is not a sudden one-step-event. WRT occurred before transition and consisted of a ''pre-transition period'' and the transition step whereas RWT occurred after transition and consisted of the transition step and a ''post-transition period''. Both transition periods were characterized by an exponential evolution of step frequency and step length.Step frequency and step length showed a linear evolution before and after transition.The flight phase of the transition step in the WRT reached a minimum with comparable duration of the last flight phase in the RWT. The flight phase could be considered as an intrinsic dynamical factor of transition. Further research in kinematics, the trajectory of the body centre of mass and energy fluctuations will give more insight in these transitions. #

Influence of M. tibialis anterior fatigue on the walk-to-run and run-to-walk transition in non-steady state locomotion

“…Each block was characterized by a constant acceleration. This type of protocol with gradually changing speed was chosen because transition is thought to be a process [4,21] with acceleration as an important task constraint [22]. The accelerations were 0.10, 0.07, 0.05, À0.10, À0.07 and À0.05 m s À2 .…”

“…DF was higher in the transition step and the first running step, indicating that there was a longer contact with the ground. Segers et al [21] described the evolution of the spatiotemporal parameters in a protocol with gradually changing speed and identified the WRT-step as an outlier. As can be seen in Fig.…”

How innate is locomotion in precocial animals? A study on the early development of spatio-temporal gait variables and gait symmetry in piglets

“…According to the 'hybrid' dynamic pattern approach to locomotion (Latash, 2008), these characteristics can be considered the most basic collective output emerging from the entire underlying neuromotor and biomechanical (i.e. neuro-mechanical) system (Aerts et al, 2000;Nishikawa et al, 2007;Segers et al, 2006). As such, relative phasing of the limbs reveals interlimb coordination, while single limb behaviour (during stance and swing) is a collective measure of intralimb coordination.…”

Kinematic Quantification of Gait Asymmetry Based on Characteristics of Angle-Angle Diagrams

“…A human walking speed of 2.3 km/h was selected for studying the proposed method. A constant speed was chosen because it directly affects the range of joint angles, [24], [25]. If we want to evaluate and compare shape characteristics of the angle-angle diagram, it is appropriate to measure the joint angles at a constant walking speed.…”