Abstract
External lateral stabilization can help identify stability control mechanisms during steady-state walking. The degree of step-by-step foot placement control and step width are known to decrease when walking with external lateral stabilization. Here, we investigated the effect of external lateral stabilization on ankle moment control in healthy participants. Ankle moment control complements foot placement, by allowing a corrective center-of-pressure shift once the foot has been placed. This is reflected by a model predicting this center-of-pressure shift based on the preceding foot placement error. Here, the absolute explained variance accounted for by this model decreased when walking with external lateral stabilization. In other words, we found a reduction in the contribution of step-by-step ankle moment control to mediolateral gait stability when externally stabilized. Concurrently, foot placement error and the average center-of-pressure shift remained unchanged.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 111259 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-5 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Journal of Biomechanics |
| Volume | 142 |
| Early online date | 17 Aug 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors like to thank the participants and everyone who helped in the data collection. Special thanks to lab manager Mohammadreza Mahaki for instructing us on the external lateral stabilization frame. A very special thanks to Lucas Polman and Bob Goedbloed who, as talented students, ensured smooth conduction of the experiment. Sjoerd Bruijn and Moira van Leeuwen were funded by the Dutch Research Council (016.Vidi.178.014), https://www.nwo.nl/en/ .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors