Human walking in the real world: Interactions between terrain type, gait parameters, and energy expenditure
Abstract
Humans often traverse real-world environments with a variety of surface irregularities and inconsistencies, which can disrupt steady gait and require additional effort. Such effects have, however, scarcely been demonstrated quantitatively, because few laboratory biomechanical measures apply outdoors. Walking can nevertheless be quantified by other means. In particular, the foot’s trajectory in space can be reconstructed from foot-mounted inertial measurement units (IMUs), to yield measures of stride and associated variabilities. But it remains unknown whether such measures are related to metabolic energy expenditure. We therefore quantified the effect of five different outdoor terrains on foot motion (from IMUs) and net metabolic rate (from oxygen consumption) in healthy adults (N = 10; walking at 1.25 m/s). Energy expenditure increased significantly (PR2= 0.52, partial least squares regression), and even discriminate between terrain types (10% reclassification error). Body-worn sensors can characterize how uneven terrain affects gait, gait variability, and metabolic cost in the real world.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jan 13, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0228682
Entities
People
- Arthur Kuo
- Daniel B. Kowalsky
- John R. Rebula
- Lauro V Ojeda
- Peter G. Adamczyk
Organizations
- Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
- National Institute on Aging
- Office of Naval Research