Abstract des Autors

Humans use the same basic mechanisms to walk and run as other legged animals. Walking gaits rely on a transfer of kinetic and gravitational potential energies with each step similar to an inverted pendulum. Running gaits, on the other hand, can be characterized as bouncing gaits and modeled with a simple spring-mass system. These two behavioral models, the inverted pendulum and the spring-mass system, provide researchers with simple descriptions of overall limb behavior and center of mass movements during walking and running. This information can provide guidance in attempts to discern general rules by which the neuromuscular system produces locomotion at the increasingly complex lower levels of organization. Verf.-Referat