The Effect of Load Carriage on Trunk Coordination during Treadmill Walking at Increasing Walking Speed
Abstract
The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effects of walking speed and wearing a backpack on trunk coordination and upper and lower body angular momentum, Twelve subjects (5 male, 7 female, mean age, yr: mean +/- SD = 26 +/- 7.1) walked on a treadmill at increasing speeds from 0.6 m(exp s-1) to 1.6 m(exp s-1) in 0.2 m(exp s-1) increments. Subjects walked wit a backpack (BP) containing 40% of their body mass and with no backpack (NBP). Peak pelvic and thoracic angular velocities were measured, and peak upper body and lower body angular momentum and the relative phase between the pelvis and thorax were calculated. A Repeated Measures ANOVA with two within-subject factors (load and speed) was used to compare the dependant variables, A significant main effect of BP condition was found in pelvic (p < 0.0001) and thoracic (p < 0.0001) angular velocity, upper (p < 0.0003) and lower (p < 0.0001) body angular momentum, and relative phase (p < 0.0014). In addition, a significant main effect of walking speed was found in thoracic angular velocity (p < 0.000 1), pelvic angular velocity (p < 0.0001), upper body angular momentum (p < 0.0001), lower body angular momentum (p < 0.0001), and relative phase (p < 0.0001). A significant interaction effect between speed and load was determined for thoracic angular velocity (p < 0.0001) upper body angular momentum (p < 0.0006), and relative phase (p < 0.0001). There were higher pelvic and thoracic angular velocities, and higher upper and lower body angular momentum in the NBP condition compared to the NBP condition. In the NBP condition, relative phase between pelvic and thoracic rotation increased from 54 deg at .6 m(exp s-1) to 122 deg at 1.6 m(exp s-1).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADP010992
Entities
People
- John P. Obusek
- Kenneth G Holt
- Michael Lafiandra
- Robert Wagenaar
Organizations
- United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine