Overground vs. treadmill walk-to-run transition

Abstract

Determination of the walk-to-run transition (WRT) speed is a crucial aspect of gait transition research, which has been conducted on treadmill as well as overground. Overground WRT-speeds were reported to be higher than on treadmill. Part of this difference could be related to the lower acceleration magnitudes on treadmill. In this study, spontaneous WRT overground was compared to WRT at a comparable acceleration on treadmill. In addition, calculation procedures correcting for movement in the lab reference frame on treadmill were implemented. As such, this study was, in contrast to previous treadmill studies, able to detect a speed jump. This speed jump was until now a typical feature of overground WRT and contributed to the higher transition speed. By incorporating horizontal movements of the COM, a speed jump was also detected on treadmill. Yet, treadmill WRT-speed (2.61 m s −1) remained lower than overground (2.85 m s −1). Nevertheless, this difference was much smaller than assumed in the literature. The remaining difference could be explained by a larger speed jump (treadmill: 0.40 m s −1; overground: 0.51 m s −1), and a higher speed at the start of the transition step overground (treadmill: 2.21 m s −1; overground: 2.34 m s −1). In conclusion, even when controlling for effects of acceleration and movement in the lab reference frame a treadmill influence on WRT was visible.