Dataset Information

Altered active control of step width in response to mediolateral leg perturbations while walking.

ABSTRACT: During human walking, step width is predicted by mediolateral motion of the pelvis, a relationship that can be attributed to a combination of passive body dynamics and active sensorimotor control. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether humans modulate the active control of step width in response to a novel mechanical environment. Participants were repeatedly exposed to a force-field that either assisted or perturbed the normal relationship between pelvis motion and step width, separated by washout periods to detect the presence of potential after-effects. As intended, force-field assistance directly strengthened the relationship between pelvis displacement and step width. This relationship remained strengthened with repeated exposure to assistance, and returned to baseline afterward, providing minimal evidence for assistance-driven changes in active control. In contrast, force-field perturbations directly weakened the relationship between pelvis motion and step width. Repeated exposure to perturbations diminished this negative direct effect, and produced larger positive after-effects once the perturbations ceased. These results demonstrate that targeted perturbations can cause humans to adjust the active control that contributes to fluctuations in step width.

SUBMITTER: Reimold NK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7376025 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Altered active control of step width in response to mediolateral leg perturbations while walking.

Reimold Nicholas K NK Knapp Holly A HA Henderson Rachel E RE Wilson Landi L Chesnutt Alyssa N AN Dean Jesse C JC

Scientific reports 20200722 1

During human walking, step width is predicted by mediolateral motion of the pelvis, a relationship that can be attributed to a combination of passive body dynamics and active sensorimotor control. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether humans modulate the active control of step width in response to a novel mechanical environment. Participants were repeatedly exposed to a force-field that either assisted or perturbed the normal relationship between pelvis motion and step widt ...[more]

PMID: 32699328

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Project description:RationaleCompared with control subjects, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have an increased incidence of falls and demonstrate balance deficits and alterations in mediolateral trunk acceleration while walking. Measures of gait variability have been implicated as indicators of fall risk, fear of falling, and future falls.ObjectivesTo investigate whether alterations in gait variability are found in patients with COPD as compared with healthy control subjects.MethodsTwenty patients with COPD (16 males; mean age, 63.6?±?9.7 yr; FEV1/FVC, 0.52?±?0.12) and 20 control subjects (9 males; mean age, 62.5?±?8.2 yr) walked for 3 minutes on a treadmill while their gait was recorded. The amount (SD and coefficient of variation) and structure of variability (sample entropy, a measure of regularity) were quantified for step length, time, and width at three walking speeds (self-selected and ±20% of self-selected speed). Generalized linear mixed models were used to compare dependent variables.ResultsPatients with COPD demonstrated increased mean and SD step time across all speed conditions as compared with control subjects. They also walked with a narrower step width that increased with increasing speed, whereas the healthy control subjects walked with a wider step width that decreased as speed increased. Further, patients with COPD demonstrated less variability in step width, with decreased SD, compared with control subjects at all three speed conditions. No differences in regularity of gait patterns were found between groups.ConclusionsPatients with COPD walk with increased duration of time between steps, and this timing is more variable than that of control subjects. They also walk with a narrower step width in which the variability of the step widths from step to step is decreased. Changes in these parameters have been related to increased risk of falling in aging research. This provides a mechanism that could explain the increased prevalence of falls in patients with COPD.

Dataset Information

Altered active control of step width in response to mediolateral leg perturbations while walking.

Publications

Altered active control of step width in response to mediolateral leg perturbations while walking.

Similar Datasets

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