Abstract
The purpose of this study was to quantify the magnitude and time course of dynamic balance control adaptations to prolonged step-by-step frontal plane forces applied to the trunk during walking. Healthy young participants (n = 10, 5 female) walked on an instrumented split-belt treadmill while an external cable-driven device applied frontal plane forces to the trunk. Two types of forces were applied: 1) forces which accentuated COM movement in the frontal plane (destabilizing) and 2) forces which resisted COM movement in the frontal plane (stabilizing). We quantified dynamic balance control using frontal plane measures of (1) the extent of center of mass (COM) movement over a gait cycle (COM sway), (2) the magnitude of base of support (step width), and (3) cadence. During destabilizing force conditions, COM sway, step width, and cadence increased. In response to stabilizing force conditions, COM sway decreased. In addition, during destabilizing balance conditions participants made quicker adaptations to their step width compared to the time to adapt to stabilizing forces. Taken together, these results provide important insight into differences in dynamic balance control strategies in response to stabilizing and destabilizing force fields.
Highlights
Adaptations to dynamic balance control are an important component of adjusting to novel walking environments
Significant decreases in center of mass (COM) sway (p
Using the observed step times resulted in a force profile that phased with COM velocity in the frontal plane
Summary
Adaptations to dynamic balance control are an important component of adjusting to novel walking environments. Maintaining balance during walking is a challenging control task for the central nervous system due to the bipedal nature of human locomotion. Previous modeling and human experimentation has demonstrated that human locomotion is passively stable in the sagittal plane, suggesting active balance control primarily focuses on the unstable fontal plane [2, 3]. Perturbations of visual feedback [4] and oscillation of the support surface [5] during treadmill walking support this theory. These studies show that neurologically intact individuals have a greater volitional response to discrete perturbations in the frontal plane as opposed to sagittal plane to maintain balance.
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