Citation

King GW, Luchies CW, Stylianou AP, Schiffman JM, Thelen DG. Gait Posture 2005; 22(3): 219-224.

Affiliation

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-7609, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.gaitpost.2004.09.008

PMID

16214661

Abstract

This study investigated effects of step length on the stepping response used to arrest an impending forward fall. Twelve healthy young (mean age 22, S.D. 3.3 years) males participated by recovering balance with a single step following a forward lean-and-release. Participants were instructed to step to one of three floor targets representing small, natural, and large step lengths. The effect of step length was examined on the primary outcome variables: pushoff time, liftoff and landing time, swing duration, balance recovery time, landing impulse, and center of mass (COM) characteristics. Pushoff and liftoff times were not affected by step length, although swing phase duration, landing and recovery times and the anterior-posterior (AP) impulse at landing increased with increasing step length. The results support the idea of an invariant step preparation phase. Given that our participants naturally chose not to utilize a step as short as they were capable of employing, healthy young individuals do not minimize recovery time nor strength requirements when selecting their step length.

Language: en