scholarly journals The energetic function of the human foot and its muscles during accelerations and decelerations

Author(s):  
Ross E. Smith ◽  
Glen A. Lichtwark ◽  
Luke A. Kelly

The human foot is known to aid propulsion by storing and returning elastic energy during steady-state locomotion. While its function during other tasks is less clear, recent evidence suggests the foot and its intrinsic muscles can also generate or dissipate energy based on the energetic requirements of the center of mass during non-steady state locomotion. In order to examine contributions of the foot and its muscles to non-steady state locomotion, we compared the energetics of the foot and ankle joint while jumping and landing before and after the application of a tibial nerve block. Under normal conditions, energetic contributions of the foot rose as work demands increased, while the relative contributions of the foot to center of mass work remained constant with increasing work demands. Under the nerve block, foot contributions to both jumping and landing decreased. Additionally, ankle contributions were also decreased under the influence of the block for both tasks. Our results reinforce findings that foot and ankle function mirror the energetic requirements of the center of mass and provide novel evidence that foot contributions remain relatively constant under increasing energetic demands. Also, while the intrinsic muscles can modulate the energetic capacity of the foot, their removal accounted for only a three-percent decrement in total center of mass work. Therefore, the small size of intrinsic muscles appears to limit their capacity to contribute to center of mass work. However, their role in contributing to ankle work capacity is likely important for the energetics of movement.

Author(s):  
Jonathon V. Birch ◽  
Luke A. Kelly ◽  
Andrew G. Cresswell ◽  
Sharon J. Dixon ◽  
Dominic J. Farris

Humans choose work-minimizing movement strategies when interacting with compliant surfaces. Our ankles are credited with stiffening our lower limbs and maintaining the excursion of our body's center of mass on a range of surface stiffnesses. We may also be able to stiffen our feet through an active contribution from our plantar intrinsic muscles (PIMs) on such surfaces. However, traditional modelling of the ankle joint has masked this contribution. We compared foot and ankle mechanics and muscle activation on Low, Medium and High stiffness surfaces during bilateral hopping using a traditional and anatomical ankle model. The traditional ankle model overestimated work and underestimated quasi-stiffness compared to the anatomical model. Hopping on a low stiffness surface resulted in less longitudinal arch compression with respect to the high stiffness surface. However, because midfoot torque was also reduced, midfoot quasi-stiffness remained unchanged. We observed lower activation of the PIMs, soleus and tibialis anterior on the low and medium stiffness conditions, which paralleled the pattern we saw in the work performed by the foot and ankle. Rather than performing unnecessary work, participants altered their landing posture to harness the energy stored by the sprung surface in the low and medium conditions. These findings highlight our preference to minimize mechanical work when transitioning to compliant surfaces and highlight the importance of considering the foot as an active, multi-articular, part of the human leg.


Author(s):  
Beom Suk Kim ◽  
Kyungho Kim ◽  
Jonathan Day ◽  
Jesse Seilern Und Seilern Und Aspang ◽  
Jaeyoung Kim

Background: Digital nerve block (DB) is a commonly utilized anesthetic procedure in ingrown toenail surgery. However, severe procedure-related pain has been reported. Although the popliteal sciatic nerve block (PB) is widely accepted in foot and ankle surgery, its use in ingrown toenail surgery has not been reported. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the safety and effectiveness of PB in the surgical treatment of ingrown toenails. Methods: One-hundred-ten patients surgically treated for an ingrown toenail were enrolled. Sixty-six patients underwent DB, and 44 underwent PB. PB was performed under ultrasound-guidance via a 22-gauge needle with 15 mL of 1% lidocaine in the popliteal region. The visual analogue scale was used to assess pain at two-time points: pain with skin penetration and pain with the solution injection. Time to sensory block, duration of sensory block, need for additional injections, and adverse events were recorded. Results: PB group demonstrated significantly lower procedure-related pain than the DB group. Time to sensory block was significantly longer in the PB group (20.8 ± 4.6 versus 6.5 ± 1.6 minutes). The sensory block duration was significantly longer in the PB group (187.9 ± 22.0 versus 106.5 ± 19.1 minutes). Additional injections were required in 16 (24.2%) DB cases, while no additional injections were required in PB cases. Four adverse events occurred in the DB group and two in the PB group. Conclusion: PB was a less painful anesthetic procedure associated with a longer sensory block duration and fewer repeat injections compared with DB. The result of this study implicates that PB can be an alternative anesthetic option in the surgical treatment of ingrown toenails.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Lee-Miller ◽  
Marco Santello ◽  
Andrew M. Gordon

AbstractSuccessful object manipulation, such as preventing object roll, relies on the modulation of forces and centers of pressure (point of application of digits on each grasp surface) prior to lift onset to generate a compensatory torque. Whether or not generalization of learned manipulation can occur after adding or removing effectors is not known. We examined this by recruiting participants to perform lifts in unimanual and bimanual grasps and analyzed results before and after transfer. Our results show partial generalization of learned manipulation occurred when switching from a (1) unimanual to bimanual grasp regardless of object center of mass, and (2) bimanual to unimanual grasp when the center of mass was on the thumb side. Partial generalization was driven by the modulation of effectors’ center of pressure, in the appropriate direction but of insufficient magnitude, while load forces did not contribute to torque generation after transfer. In addition, we show that the combination of effector forces and centers of pressure in the generation of compensatory torque differ between unimanual and bimanual grasping. These findings highlight that (1) high-level representations of learned manipulation enable only partial learning transfer when adding or removing effectors, and (2) such partial generalization is mainly driven by modulation of effectors’ center of pressure.


Author(s):  
Fengchen Wang ◽  
Yan Chen

This paper presents a novel mass-center-position (MCP) metric for vehicle rollover propensity detection. MCP is first determined by estimating the positions of the center of mass of one sprung mass and two unsprung masses with two switchable roll motion models, before and after tire lift-off. The roll motion information without saturation can then be provided through MCP continuously. Moreover, to detect completed rollover statues for both tripped and untripped rollovers, the criteria are derived from d’Alembert principle and moment balance conditions based on MCP. In addition to tire lift-off, three new rollover statues, rollover threshold, rollover occurrence, and vehicle jumping into air can be all identified by the proposed criteria. Compared with an existing rollover index, lateral load transfer ratio, the fishhook maneuver simulation results in CarSim® for an E-class SUV show that MCP metric can successfully predict the vehicle impending rollover without saturation for untripped rollovers. Tripped rollovers caused by a triangle road bump are also successfully detected in the simulation. Thus, MCP metric can be successfully applied for rollover propensity prediction.


Author(s):  
Michael B Canales ◽  
Homer Huntley Matthew Reiner ◽  
Duane J Ehredt Mark Razzante

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Martins Gomes ◽  
Antonio Fernando Bertachini de Almeida Prado ◽  
Justyna Golebiewska

The present research studies the motion of a particle or a spacecraft that comes from an orbit around the Sun, which can be elliptic or hyperbolic, and that makes a passage close enough to the Earth such that it crosses its atmosphere. The idea is to measure the Sun-particle two-body energy before and after this passage in order to verify its variation as a function of the periapsis distance, angle of approach, and velocity at the periapsis of the particle. The full system is formed by the Sun, the Earth, and the particle or the spacecraft. The Sun and the Earth are in circular orbits around their center of mass and the motion is planar for all the bodies involved. The equations of motion consider the restricted circular planar three-body problem with the addition of the atmospheric drag. The initial conditions of the particle or spacecraft (position and velocity) are given at the periapsis of its trajectory around the Earth.


2006 ◽  
Vol 34 (03) ◽  
pp. 449-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Hsin Chang ◽  
Chia I Tsai ◽  
Jaung Geng Lin ◽  
Yue Der Lin ◽  
Tsai Chung Li ◽  
...  

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) holds that Blood and Qi are fundamental substances in the human body for sustaining normal vital activity. The theory of Qi, Blood and Zang-Fu contribute the most important theoretical basis of human physiology in TCM. An animal model using conscious rats was employed in this study to further comprehend how organisms survive during acute hemorrhage by maintaining the functionalities of Qi and Blood through dynamically regulating visceral physiological conditions. Pulse waves of arterial blood pressure before and after the hemorrhage were taken in parallel to pulse spectrum analysis. Percentage differences of mean arterial blood pressure and harmonics were recorded in subsequent 5-minute intervals following the hemorrhage. Data were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Duncan's test for pairwise comparisons. Results showed that, within 30 minutes following the onset of acute hemorrhage,the reduction of mean arterial blood pressure was improved from 62% to 20%. Throughout the process, changes to the pulse spectrum appeared to result in a new balance over time. The percentage differences of the second and third harmonics, which were related to kidney and spleen, both increased significantly than baseline and towards another steady state. Apart from the steady state resulting from the previous stage, the percentage difference of the 4th harmonic decreased significantly to another steady state. The observed change could be attributed to the induction of functional Qi, and is a result of Qi-Blood balancing activity that organisms hold to survive against acute bleeding.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0242215
Author(s):  
A. M. van Leeuwen ◽  
J. H. van Dieën ◽  
A. Daffertshofer ◽  
S. M. Bruijn

Step-by-step foot placement control, relative to the center of mass (CoM) kinematic state, is generally considered a dominant mechanism for maintenance of gait stability. By adequate (mediolateral) positioning of the center of pressure with respect to the CoM, the ground reaction force generates a moment that prevents falling. In healthy individuals, foot placement is complemented mainly by ankle moment control ensuring stability. To evaluate possible compensatory relationships between step-by-step foot placement and complementary ankle moments, we investigated the degree of (active) foot placement control during steady-state walking, and under either foot placement-, or ankle moment constraints. Thirty healthy participants walked on a treadmill, while full-body kinematics, ground reaction forces and EMG activities were recorded. As a replication of earlier findings, we first showed step-by-step foot placement is associated with preceding CoM state and hip ab-/adductor activity during steady-state walking. Tight control of foot placement appears to be important at normal walking speed because there was a limited change in the degree of foot placement control despite the presence of a foot placement constraint. At slow speed, the degree of foot placement control decreased substantially, suggesting that tight control of foot placement is less essential when walking slowly. Step-by-step foot placement control was not tightened to compensate for constrained ankle moments. Instead compensation was achieved through increases in step width and stride frequency.


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