Abstract
Hip abductor proprioception contributes to the control of mediolateral foot placement, which varies with step-by-step fluctuations in pelvis dynamics. Prior work has used hip abductor vibration as a sensory probe to investigate the link between vibration within a single step and subsequent foot placement. Here, we extended prior findings by applying time and location varying vibration in every step, seeking to predictably manipulate the continuous, step-by-step relationship between pelvis dynamics and foot placement. We compared participants' (n = 32; divided into two groups of 16 with slightly different vibration control) gait behavior across four treadmill walking conditions: 1) No feedback; 2) Random feedback, with vibration unrelated to pelvis motion; 3) Augmented feedback, with vibration designed to evoke proprioceptive feedback paralleling the actual pelvis motion; 4) Disrupted feedback, with vibration designed to evoke proprioceptive feedback inversely related to pelvis motion. We hypothesized that the relationship between pelvis dynamics and foot placement would be strengthened by Augmented feedback but weakened by Disrupted feedback. For both participant groups, the strength of the relationship between pelvis dynamics at the start of a step and foot placement at the end of a step was significantly (p ≤ 0.0002) influenced by the feedback condition. The link between pelvis dynamics and foot placement was strongest with Augmented feedback, but not significantly weakened with Disrupted feedback, partially supporting our hypotheses. Our approach to augmenting proprioceptive feedback during gait may have implications for clinical populations with a weakened relationship between pelvis motion and foot placement.
Highlights
D URING human walking, pelvis dynamics predicts the mediolateral foot placement of the swing leg
Humans actively control mediolateral foot placement in response to fluctuations in body dynamics, with hip proprioceptive feedback contributing to this control
We found that augmenting proprioceptive feedback using scaled vibration strengthened the relationship between pelvis dynamics and foot placement, as hypothesized
Summary
D URING human walking, pelvis dynamics predicts the mediolateral foot placement of the swing leg. Larger mediolateral pelvis displacements and velocities away from the stance leg are accompanied by stronger activation of the swing leg gluteus medius [5]. Stronger gluteus medius activation is followed by more lateral foot placement of the swing leg, as predicted from this muscle’s action as a hip abductor [5]. The same pattern of adjusting gluteus medius activity and foot placement based on pelvis dynamics occurs when mediolateral perturbations are applied to the trunk or leg [5]–[7]. Manipulating the perception of body dynamics through visual [8] or vestibular [9] sensory perturbations elicits effects predicted by the dynamics-dependent active control of foot placement
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