REDUCING VERTICAL CENTER OF MASS MOVEMENT DURING HUMAN WALKING DOESNT NECESSARILY REDUCE METABOLIC COST Keith E.

Gordon1, Daniel P. Ferris1 and Arthur D. Kuo2

1

Department of Movement Science and 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; E-mail: kegordon@umich.edu METHODS

INTRODUCTION In 1953, Saunders, Inman and Eberhart published a highly influential and controversial paper relating the mechanics and energetics of human walking. It proposed that minimizing displacements of the center of mass (COM) during gait minimizes metabolic cost, and listed six kinematic characteristics that reduce center of mass motion. Recent research has questioned the ability of the kinematic characteristics to decrease COM movement. The purpose of this study was to directly test the hypothesis that minimizing COM displacement leads to minimal metabolic cost during human walking. We tested two cases where a decreased COM displacement might result in increased metabolic cost. In the first experiment, subjects walked at a constant speed but with different stride lengths. Reducing stride length is one way to decrease vertical COM movement but requires swinging the limbs at a faster rate. Increasing leg swing frequency could increase metabolic energy costs because of higher muscle forces (Kuo 2002). In the second experiment, subjects walked at a constant speed and stride length, but reduced their vertical COM motion through visual feedback of pelvis position. Farley et al. (2003) found that subjects increase their metabolic cost under this condition with visual feedback. Increasing limb flexion during stance would decrease COM displacement but would also require greater muscle forces due to a decreased mechanical advantage (Biewener 1989). Seven young healthy adult subjects walked on a treadmill at 1.2 m/s during five conditions: 60, 80, 100 and 120% of their preferred stride length, and 100% of their preferred stride length with visual feedback about position of their sacrum. Subjects altered stride length by matching stride frequency to a metronome. During the visual feedback condition, we projected a real time display of the position of a reflective marker placed on the subjects sacrum onto a grid displayed in front of the subject. We recorded data from each subject during a 6-minute period. For each condition we collected oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production data to calculate metabolic cost (W/kg) during three minutes of steady state walking. We also collected kinematic data using a full body marker set to calculate vertical COM displacement over a twenty second period coinciding with steady state. As the treadmill rested on force platforms, we also collected kinetic data to calculate vertical COM displacement over a 2-minute period of steady state walking. We found no significant differences in vertical COM displacement between the two methods. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In experiment 1, vertical COM displacement increased with stride length. Metabolic cost increased as stride length deviated from the subjects preferred stride length (Figure 1).

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Maximum metabolic cost occurred when vertical COM displacements were at a minimum. In experiment 2, vertical COM displacement decreased with visual feedback about sacrum position but metabolic cost significantly increased (Figure 2.). During the visual feedback condition most subjects selected a Groucho walking pattern in order to minimize vertical COM displacement without altering stride length. The metabolic cost of human walking is not directly proportional to vertical COM movement. Decreasing vertical COM movement beyond that which occurred at ones preferred walking pattern resulted in increased energetic cost. These results suggest that factors other than minimizing COM displacement are important in determining the metabolic costs of gait. SUMMARY We have demonstrated that the most energetically efficient gait pattern is not the same as the pattern that minimizes COM displacement. Clearly, humans are capable of walking in a manner that will minimize COM displacement beyond what they will
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Vertical Center of Mass Displacement (mm)

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Figure 2: Mean vertical center of mass displacement and metabolic cost are plotted during walking at 1.2 m/s and a given stride length either with or without visual feedback. normally choose to do. The fact that humans do not choose to minimize COM displacement suggests that 1) factors other than COM displacement play an important role in the metabolic costs of human walking and 2) factors other then minimizing COM displacement may determine why humans select the gait patterns that they do. REFERENCES Biewener, A.A. (1989). Science 245:45-8. Farley, C.T. et al. (2003). Proc. ASB, Toledo OH. Kuo, A.D. (2002). J Biomech Eng. 124:11320. Saunders, J.B., Inman, V.T., Eberhart, H.D. (1953). J Bone Joint Surg Am 35, 543-58. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to thank Tanisha Tate for her contribution to this project.

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Figure 1: Mean vertical center of mass displacement and metabolic cost are plotted during walking at 1.2 m/s at varying percentages of preferred stride length.

Metabolic Cost (w/kg)

Metabolic Cost (w/kg)