Compass gait mechanics account for top walking speeds in ducks and humans.

ABSTRACT: The constraints to maximum walking speed and the underlying cause of the walk-run transition remains controversial. However, the motions of the body and legs can be reduced to a few mechanical principles, which, if valid, impose simple physics-based limits to walking speed. Bipedal walking may be viewed as a vaulting gait, with the centre of mass (CoM) passing over a stiff stance leg (an 'inverted pendulum'), while the swing leg swings forward (as a pendulum). At its simplest, this forms a 'compass gait' walker, which has a maximum walking speed constrained by simple mechanics: walk too fast, or with too high a step length, and gravity fails to keep the stance foot attached to the floor. But how useful is such an extremely reductionist model? In the present study, we report measurements on

SUBMITTER: Usherwood JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2978950 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature