The effect of trunk flexion on able-bodied gait

Saha, Devjani J.; Gard, Steven A.; Fatone, Stefania

doi:10.1016/j.gaitpost.2007.08.009

Cited by 96 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…This in turn enforces higher speed. Such increased walking speed is not in agreement with the result observed by Saha et al (2008), who found that walking speed does not significantly vary during walking with trunk-flexed postures. The reason for this inconsistency may be attributed to different approaches employed to control the trunk postures.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 97%

“…Walking with bent postures was associated with a crouched gait pattern, characterized by a sustained knee flexion throughout the stance phase, and an increase in hip flexion and ankle dorsiflexion (Wren et al, 2005;Saha et al, 2008). This can be explained with a flatter angle of attack that leads to a decreased height of the hip above the ground, which in turn yields more flexed limb joints during trunk-flexed walking.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2A). To produce the most consistent trunk posture across participants, trunk flexion was achieved by bending from the hips (Saha et al, 2008). Considering this criterion, the TF3 constituted the maximum amount of trunk flexion that the participants could sustain while walking.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…legged robots, prosthetic legs) (Merker et al, 2011), the intra-limb asymmetries in leg function are not well understood. In spite of a considerable number of studies on the potential effect of trunk posture on the human walkers whether as an imposed trunk posture (Grasso et al, 2000;Saha et al, 2008;Kluger et al, 2014), the natural inclination of the trunk (Leteneur et al, 2009(Leteneur et al, , 2013 or age-related flexed posture (McGibbon and Krebs, 2001;de Groot et al, 2014), little is known about the effects of trunk orientation on the axial leg function, specifically when trunk posture is varied across a wide range of angles in the sagittal plane.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Increasing trunk flexion morphs human leg function into that of birds despite different leg morphology

Aminiaghdam

Rode

Müller

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Pronograde trunk orientation in small birds causes prominent intra-limb asymmetries in the leg function. As yet, it is not clear whether these asymmetries induced by the trunk reflect general constraints on the leg function regardless of the specific leg architecture or size of the species. To address this, we instructed 12 human volunteers to walk at a self-selected velocity with four postures: regular erect, or with 30 deg, 50 deg and maximal trunk flexion. In addition, we simulated the axial leg force (along the line connecting hip and centre of pressure) using two simple models: spring and damper in series, and parallel spring and damper. As trunk flexion increases, lower limb joints become more flexed during stance. Similar to birds, the associated posterior shift of the hip relative to the centre of mass leads to a shorter leg at toe-off than at touchdown, and to a flatter angle of attack and a steeper leg angle at toe-off. Furthermore, walking with maximal trunk flexion induces right-skewed vertical and horizontal ground reaction force profiles comparable to those in birds. Interestingly, the spring and damper in series model provides a superior prediction of the axial leg force across trunk-flexed gaits compared with the parallel spring and damper model; in regular erect gait, the damper does not substantially improve the reproduction of the human axial leg force. In conclusion, mimicking the pronograde locomotion of birds by bending the trunk forward in humans causes a leg function similar to that of birds despite the different morphology of the segmented legs.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Increasing trunk flexion morphs human leg function into that of birds despite different leg morphology

Aminiaghdam

Rode

Müller

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…112 Subjects asked to walk with flexed postures employed a bent knee, bent hip strategy similar to primates. 163 This bent knee, bent hip strategy resulted in a 10% shorter stride length and an increase in steps per minute to maintain the same walking pace as the upright posture. These findings are seconded by experiments in chimpanzees trained to walk bipedally.…”

Section: Perturbing the Balanced Spinementioning

confidence: 95%

Etiology of lumbar lordosis and its pathophysiology: a review of the evolution of lumbar lordosis, and the mechanics and biology of lumbar degeneration

Sparrey

Bailey

Safaee

et al. 2014

FOC

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The goal of this review is to discuss the mechanisms of postural degeneration, particularly the loss of lumbar lordosis commonly observed in the elderly in the context of evolution, mechanical, and biological studies of the human spine and to synthesize recent research findings to clinical management of postural malalignment. Lumbar lordosis is unique to the human spine and is necessary to facilitate our upright posture. However, decreased lumbar lordosis and increased thoracic kyphosis are hallmarks of an aging human spinal column. The unique upright posture and lordotic lumbar curvature of the human spine suggest that an understanding of the evolution of the human spinal column, and the unique anatomical features that support lumbar lordosis may provide insight into spine health and degeneration. Considering evolution of the skeleton in isolation from other scientific studies provides a limited picture for clinicians. The evolution and development of human lumbar lordosis highlight the interdependence of pelvic structure and lumbar lordosis. Studies of fossils of human lineage demonstrate a convergence on the degree of lumbar lordosis and the number of lumbar vertebrae in modern Homo sapiens. Evolution and spine mechanics research show that lumbar lordosis is dictated by pelvic incidence, spinal musculature, vertebral wedging, and disc health. The evolution, mechanics, and biology research all point to the importance of spinal posture and flexibility in supporting optimal health. However, surgical management of postural deformity has focused on restoring posture at the expense of flexibility. It is possible that the need for complex and costly spinal fixation can be eliminated by developing tools for early identification of patients at risk for postural deformities through patient history (genetics, mechanics, and environmental exposure) and tracking postural changes over time.

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Testing biomechanical models of human lumbar lordosis variability

Castillo

Hsu

Mair

et al. 2017

American J Phys Anthropol

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Hip moments appear constrained suggesting the possibility of selection, and the beam model explains some LL variability due to variations in trunk geometry. The strength-flexibility interaction best predicted LL, suggesting a tradeoff in which ROM limits the effects of back strength on LL. The strength-flexibility model may have clinical relevance for spinal alignment and pathology. This model may also suggest that straight-backed Neanderthals had reduced lumbar mobility.

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The effect of trunk flexion on able-bodied gait

Cited by 96 publications

References 20 publications

Increasing trunk flexion morphs human leg function into that of birds despite different leg morphology

Increasing trunk flexion morphs human leg function into that of birds despite different leg morphology

Etiology of lumbar lordosis and its pathophysiology: a review of the evolution of lumbar lordosis, and the mechanics and biology of lumbar degeneration

Testing biomechanical models of human lumbar lordosis variability

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