Ground reaction forces at different speeds of human walking and running

It has previously been shown that a bipedal model consisting of a point mass supported by spring limbs can be tuned to simulate periodic human walking. In this study, we incorporated roller feet into the spring-mass model and evaluated the effect of roller radius, impact angle, and limb stiffness on spatiotemporal gait characteristics, ground reactions, and center-of-pressure excursions. We also evaluated the potential of the improved model to predict speed-dependent changes in ground reaction forces and center-of-pressure excursions observed during normal human walking. We were able to find limit cycles that exhibited gait-like motion across a wide spectrum of model parameters. Incorporation of the roller foot (R=0.3m) reduced the magnitude of peak ground reaction forces and allowed for forward center-of-pressure progression, making the model more consistent with human walking. At a fixed walking speed, increasing the limb impact angle reduced the cadence and prolonged stance duration. Increases in either limb stiffness or impact angle tended to result in more oscillatory vertical ground reactions. Simultaneous modulation of the limb impact angle and limb stiffness was needed to induce speed-related changes in ground reactions that were consistent with those measured during normal human walking, with better quantitative agreement achieved at slower speeds. We conclude that a simple mass-spring model with roller feet can well describe ground reaction forces, and hence center of mass motion, observed during normal human walking.

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The Effects of Posture on the Three-Dimensional Gait Mechanics of Human Walking in Comparison to Bipedal Chimpanzees

10.1101/2021.07.30.454517 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Russell T. Johnson ◽

Matthew C. O'Neill ◽

Brian R. Umberger

Keyword(s):

Ground Reaction Force ◽

Reaction Force ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Bipedal Walking ◽

Human Walking ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

Vertical Ground Reaction Force ◽

Gait Mechanics ◽

Reaction Forces ◽

Vertical Ground

Humans walk with an upright posture on extended limbs during stance and with a double-peaked vertical ground reaction force. Our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, are facultative bipeds that walk with a crouched posture on flexed, abducted hind limbs and with a single-peaked vertical ground reaction force. Differences in human and bipedal chimpanzee three-dimensional kinematics have been well quantified; however, it is unclear what the independent effects of using a crouched posture are on three-dimensional gait mechanics for humans, and how they compare with chimpanzees. Understanding the relationships between posture and gait mechanics, with known differences in morphology between species, can help researchers better interpret the effects of trait evolution on bipedal walking. We quantified pelvis and lower limb three-dimensional kinematics and ground reaction forces as humans adopted a series of upright and crouched postures and compared them with data from bipedal chimpanzee walking. Human crouched posture gait mechanics were more similar to bipedal chimpanzee gait than normal human walking, especially in sagittal plane hip and knee angles. However, there were persistent differences between species, as humans walked with less transverse plane pelvis rotation, less hip abduction, and greater peak horizontal ground reaction force in late stance than chimpanzees. Our results suggest that human crouched posture walking reproduces only a small subset of the characteristics of three-dimensional kinematics and ground reaction forces of chimpanzee walking, with the remaining differences likely due in large part to the distinct musculoskeletal morphologies of humans and chimpanzees.

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Temporal coordination between ground reaction forces generated by leading and trailing limbs for propulsion during double stance phase in human walking

Gait & Posture ◽

10.1016/j.gaitpost.2017.03.026 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 54 ◽

pp. 295-299

Author(s):

Yoichiro Sato ◽

Norimasa Yamada

Keyword(s):

Stance Phase ◽

Human Walking ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

Temporal Coordination ◽

Reaction Forces

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The Role of Ankle Plantarflexors in Maintaining Dynamic Balance During Human Walking

ASME 2012 Summer Bioengineering Conference, Parts A and B ◽

10.1115/sbc2012-80734 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Richard R. Neptune ◽

Craig P. McGowan ◽

Allison L. Hall

Keyword(s):

Angular Momentum ◽

Dynamic Balance ◽

Center Of Mass ◽

The Body ◽

Whole Body ◽

Human Walking ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

Reaction Forces ◽

Anterior Posterior

The regulation of whole-body angular momentum is essential for maintaining dynamic balance during human walking and appears to be tightly controlled during normal and pathological movement (e.g., [1, 2]). The primary mechanism to regulate angular momentum is muscle force generation, which accelerates the body segments and generates ground reaction forces that alter angular momentum about the body’s center-of-mass to restore and maintain dynamic balance. Previous modeling studies have shown the ankle plantarflexors are important contributors to the anterior/posterior, vertical and medial/lateral ground reaction forces during human walking [3, 4], and therefore appear critical to regulating angular momentum and maintaining dynamic balance during walking.

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Ground reaction forces intersect above the center of mass in single support, but not in double support of human walking

Journal of Biomechanics ◽

10.1016/j.jbiomech.2021.110387 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 120 ◽

pp. 110387

Author(s):

Johanna Vielemeyer ◽

Roy Müller ◽

Nora-Sophie Staufenberg ◽

Daniel Renjewski ◽

Rainer Abel

Keyword(s):

Center Of Mass ◽

Human Walking ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

Double Support ◽

Reaction Forces

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Running ground reaction forces across footwear conditions are predicted from the motion of two body mass components

Journal of Applied Physiology ◽

10.1152/japplphysiol.00925.2018 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 126 (5) ◽

pp. 1315-1325 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Andrew B. Udofa ◽

Kenneth P. Clark ◽

Laurence J. Ryan ◽

Peter G. Weyand

Keyword(s):

Ground Reaction Force ◽

Lower Limb ◽

Reaction Force ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

Vertical Ground Reaction Force ◽

Time Patterns ◽

Foot Strike ◽

Reaction Forces ◽

Vertical Ground ◽

Force Time

Although running shoes alter foot-ground reaction forces, particularly during impact, how they do so is incompletely understood. Here, we hypothesized that footwear effects on running ground reaction force-time patterns can be accurately predicted from the motion of two components of the body’s mass (mb): the contacting lower-limb (m1 = 0.08mb) and the remainder (m2 = 0.92mb). Simultaneous motion and vertical ground reaction force-time data were acquired at 1,000 Hz from eight uninstructed subjects running on a force-instrumented treadmill at 4.0 and 7.0 m/s under four footwear conditions: barefoot, minimal sole, thin sole, and thick sole. Vertical ground reaction force-time patterns were generated from the two-mass model using body mass and footfall-specific measures of contact time, aerial time, and lower-limb impact deceleration. Model force-time patterns generated using the empirical inputs acquired for each footfall matched the measured patterns closely across the four footwear conditions at both protocol speeds ( r2 = 0.96 ± 0.004; root mean squared error = 0.17 ± 0.01 body-weight units; n = 275 total footfalls). Foot landing angles (θF) were inversely related to footwear thickness; more positive or plantar-flexed landing angles coincided with longer-impact durations and force-time patterns lacking distinct rising-edge force peaks. Our results support three conclusions: 1) running ground reaction force-time patterns across footwear conditions can be accurately predicted using our two-mass, two-impulse model, 2) impact forces, regardless of foot strike mechanics, can be accurately quantified from lower-limb motion and a fixed anatomical mass (0.08mb), and 3) runners maintain similar loading rates (ΔFvertical/Δtime) across footwear conditions by altering foot strike angle to regulate the duration of impact. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Here, we validate a two-mass, two-impulse model of running vertical ground reaction forces across four footwear thickness conditions (barefoot, minimal, thin, thick). Our model allows the impact portion of the impulse to be extracted from measured total ground reaction force-time patterns using motion data from the ankle. The gait adjustments observed across footwear conditions revealed that runners maintained similar loading rates across footwear conditions by altering foot strike angles to regulate the duration of impact.

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Estimation of Ground Reaction Forces Based on Knee Joint Acceleration of Lower-Limb Exoskeletons

2020 International Automatic Control Conference (CACS) ◽

10.1109/cacs50047.2020.9289732 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tesheng Hsiao ◽

Kinglam Yip ◽

Yun-Jen Chiu

Keyword(s):

Knee Joint ◽

Lower Limb ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

Reaction Forces ◽

Joint Acceleration

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Ground Reaction Forces of Dressage Horses Performing the Piaffe

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani11020436 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 436 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hilary Mary Clayton ◽

Sarah Jane Hobbs

Keyword(s):

Coefficient Of Variation ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Individual Variability ◽

The Other ◽

Ground Reaction Forces ◽

High Coefficient ◽

Reaction Forces

The piaffe is an artificial, diagonally coordinated movement performed in the highest levels of dressage competition. The ground reaction forces (GRFs) of horses performing the piaffe do not appear to have been reported. Therefore, the objective of this study was to describe three-dimensional GRFs in ridden dressage horses performing the piaffe. In-ground force plates were used to capture fore and hindlimb GRF data from seven well-trained dressage horses. Peak vertical GRF was significantly higher in forelimbs than in the hindlimbs (7.39 ± 0.99 N/kg vs. 6.41 ± 0.64 N/kg; p < 0.001) with vertical impulse showing a trend toward higher forelimb values. Peak longitudinal forces were small with no difference in the magnitude of braking or propulsive forces between fore and hindlimbs. Peak transverse forces were similar in magnitude to longitudinal forces and were mostly directed medially in the hindlimbs. Both the intra- and inter-individual variability of longitudinal and transverse GRFs were high (coefficient of variation 25–68%). Compared with the other diagonal gaits of dressage horses, the vertical GRF somewhat shifted toward the hindlimbs. The high step-to-step variability of the horizontal GRF components is thought to reflect the challenge of balancing on one diagonal pair of limbs with no forward momentum.

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