Human walking isn't all hard work: evidence of soft tissue contributions to energy dissipation and return.

ABSTRACT: The muscles and tendons of the lower extremity are generally considered the dominant producers of positive and negative work during gait. However, soft-tissue deformations not captured by joint rotations might also dissipate, store and even return substantial energy to the body. A key locomotion event is the collision of the leg with the ground, which deforms soft tissues appreciably in running. Significant deformation might also result from the impulsive ground collision in walking. In a study of normal human walking (N=10; 0.7-2.0 m s(-1) speeds), we show indirect evidence for both negative and positive work performed by soft tissue, consistent with a damped elastic collision and rebound. We used the difference between measured joint work and another quantity - the work performed on the

SUBMITTER: Zelik KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2992466 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature