Citation

Sparrow WA, Newell KM. Behav. Brain Res. 1994; 63(2): 151-158.

Affiliation

School of Studies in Disability, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

7999298

Abstract

Changes were documented in the inter-limb and intra-limb timing of well trained adult males creeping at increasing speed on a motor-driven treadmill. A power function (y = axb) showed a good fit to hand and foot stride and support duration (y) and speed (x), a finding that parallels the changes expected in normal upright walking. Similarly, limbs of the same girdle maintained a half-cycle phase lag as speed increased. Swing duration, however, showed cyclical changes with increasing speed, a phenomenon not previously reported either for quadrupedal gait or normal upright gait. Ipsilateral hands and feet abruptly changed their phase-lags at a constant percentage of maximum speed in a manner similar to gait transitions observed in quadrupedal species. Explanations for these transitions were suggested, such as physical constraints on the speed of limb movement and the organism's biomechanical adaptation to increased metabolic energy expenditure.

Language: en