Coordination of upper and lower extremities movements during the gait of women
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| Year of publication | 2012 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Human gait is one of the basic human movement used to change place in the space. The aim of this study is to analyze the most important temporal and velocity parameters determinating the movement of lower and upper limbs. Our purpose is to compare interindividually the coordination of these movements by evaluating these observed parameters of each proband. We did a 3D kinematical analysis of gait. For scanning the picture we used two high-frequency synchronized digital cameras SIMI MOTION Version 7. The gait cycle was performed by 16 women at the age of 20 – 45. On the basis of 3D kinematical analysis the characteristics of key phases of the gait cycle were evaluated. We were interested mainly in the temporal and speed characteristics of lower and upper limbs. The motion of the upper limbs is considered as a facultative component of human gait to reduce the energy cost of walking (Callaghan et al., 1999; Umberger, 2008). During human walking, arms normally swing in opposition to legs, which helps balance angular momentum generated in the lower body (Park, 2008). We observed temporal coordination of swinging phase of upper and lower limbs. The arm swing back ended a little bit earlier than the ipsilateral heel contacted the floor while the contralateral arm stopped its swing forward at the time of the initial contact of the heel with the floor. The chronology of moments at which the ankles and the wrists reached their maximum speed was the next observed parameter of limbs movement coordination. Every attempt showed that the minimum speed of the standing ankle and the contralateral wrist is reached approximately at the same moment. This temporal coordination was not proved in reaching the maximum speed of the lower and upper limb. The maximum speed of the swinging ankle is reached later than the maximum speed of the contralateral wrist swinging forward. There is a question of energy conservation to solve. |
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