Modified stepping behaviour during outdoor winter walking increases resistance to forward losses of stability
Abstract Healthy humans are proficient at maintaining stability when faced with diverse walking conditions, however, the control strategies that lead to this proficiency are unclear. Previous laboratory-based research has predominantly concluded that corrective stepping is the main strategy, but whe...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-34831-3 |
| _version_ | 1797818068526694400 |
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| author | Aaron N. Best Amy R. Wu |
| author_facet | Aaron N. Best Amy R. Wu |
| author_sort | Aaron N. Best |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Healthy humans are proficient at maintaining stability when faced with diverse walking conditions, however, the control strategies that lead to this proficiency are unclear. Previous laboratory-based research has predominantly concluded that corrective stepping is the main strategy, but whether this finding holds when facing everyday obstacles outside of the laboratory is uncertain. We investigated changes in gait stability behaviour when walking outdoors in the summer and winter, hypothesizing that as ground conditions worsened in the winter, the stepping strategy would be hindered. Stability would then be maintained through compensatory strategies such as with ankle torques and trunk rotation. Data was collected in the summer and winter using inertial measurement units to collect kinematics and instrumented insoles to collect vertical ground reaction forces. Using the goodness of fit for a multivariate regression between the centre of mass state and foot placement we found that, counter to our hypothesis, stepping was not hindered by winter conditions. Instead, the stepping strategy was modified to increase the anterior-posterior margin of stability, increasing the resistance to a forward loss of stability. With stepping being unhindered, we did not observe any additional compensation from the ankle or trunk strategies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:02:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-715a5fe586044caa8f96f4b3703f6a4d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:02:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-715a5fe586044caa8f96f4b3703f6a4d2023-05-28T11:13:51ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-05-0113111110.1038/s41598-023-34831-3Modified stepping behaviour during outdoor winter walking increases resistance to forward losses of stabilityAaron N. Best0Amy R. Wu1Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Ingenuity Labs Research Institute, Queen’s UniversityMechanical and Materials Engineering, Ingenuity Labs Research Institute, Queen’s UniversityAbstract Healthy humans are proficient at maintaining stability when faced with diverse walking conditions, however, the control strategies that lead to this proficiency are unclear. Previous laboratory-based research has predominantly concluded that corrective stepping is the main strategy, but whether this finding holds when facing everyday obstacles outside of the laboratory is uncertain. We investigated changes in gait stability behaviour when walking outdoors in the summer and winter, hypothesizing that as ground conditions worsened in the winter, the stepping strategy would be hindered. Stability would then be maintained through compensatory strategies such as with ankle torques and trunk rotation. Data was collected in the summer and winter using inertial measurement units to collect kinematics and instrumented insoles to collect vertical ground reaction forces. Using the goodness of fit for a multivariate regression between the centre of mass state and foot placement we found that, counter to our hypothesis, stepping was not hindered by winter conditions. Instead, the stepping strategy was modified to increase the anterior-posterior margin of stability, increasing the resistance to a forward loss of stability. With stepping being unhindered, we did not observe any additional compensation from the ankle or trunk strategies.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-34831-3 |
| spellingShingle | Aaron N. Best Amy R. Wu Modified stepping behaviour during outdoor winter walking increases resistance to forward losses of stability Scientific Reports |
| title | Modified stepping behaviour during outdoor winter walking increases resistance to forward losses of stability |
| title_full | Modified stepping behaviour during outdoor winter walking increases resistance to forward losses of stability |
| title_fullStr | Modified stepping behaviour during outdoor winter walking increases resistance to forward losses of stability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Modified stepping behaviour during outdoor winter walking increases resistance to forward losses of stability |
| title_short | Modified stepping behaviour during outdoor winter walking increases resistance to forward losses of stability |
| title_sort | modified stepping behaviour during outdoor winter walking increases resistance to forward losses of stability |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-34831-3 |
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