Gait & posture
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This study determined whether walking at the preferred stride frequency minimizes muscle activity compared with other cadences at the same speed. Anthropometric measurements were recorded from 10 subjects and used to estimate their predicted resonant stride frequency. The preferred walking speed and stride frequency were determined from freely adopted walking on a treadmill. ⋯ VO2, GA and TA activity were all minimal at the preferred stride frequency and increased for faster or slower cadences. BF and RF activity were minimal across a broad range of slow frequencies including the preferred stride frequency and increased for faster frequencies. The preferred stride frequency that humans readily adopt during walking minimizes the activation of the GA, TA, BF and RF muscles, which in turn minimizes the overall metabolic cost.
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Human dynamic models have been used to estimate joint kinetics during various activities. Kinetics estimation is in demand in sports and clinical applications where data on external forces, such as the ground reaction force (GRF), are not available. The purpose of this study was to estimate the GRF during gait by utilizing distance- and velocity-dependent force models between the foot and ground in an inverse-dynamics-based optimization. ⋯ The estimated full GRF had the lowest root mean square (RMS) errors at the slow walking speed (1.0m/s) with 4.2, 1.3, and 5.7% BW for anterior-posterior, medial-lateral, and vertical forces, respectively. The estimated shear forces were not significantly different between the full-GRF and shear-GRF models, but the RMS errors of the estimated knee joint kinetics were significantly lower for the shear-GRF model. Providing COP and vertical GRF with sensors, such as an insole-type pressure mat, can help estimate shear forces of the GRF and increase accuracy for estimation of joint kinetics.