Children and adults minimise activated muscle volume by selecting gait parameters that balance gross mechanical power and work demands.

ABSTRACT: Terrestrial locomotion on legs is energetically expensive. Compared with cycling, or with locomotion in swimming or flying animals, walking and running are highly uneconomical. Legged gaits that minimise mechanical work have previously been identified and broadly match walking and running at appropriate speeds. Furthermore, the 'cost of muscle force' approaches are effective in relating locomotion kinetics to metabolic cost. However, few accounts have been made for why animals deviate from either work-minimising or muscle-force-minimising strategies. Also, there is no current mechanistic account for the scaling of locomotion kinetics with animal size and speed. Here, we report measurements of ground reaction forces in walking children and adult humans, and their stance durations during run

SUBMITTER: Hubel TY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4582168 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature