Three-dimensional kinematics of bipedal locomotion

Abstract

The arm-swinging-climbing locomotor complex, which is most highly develo ped in the gibbon, seems to provide the locomotor characteristics from which those essential to bipedal walking are derived. Analytic research on bipedal gaits in living primates has been conducted in order to underline the importance of morphological studies in theories of humanisation. The purpose of this work was to explore the problems of intertaxon variability of bipedal walking in living primates using kinesiological analysis. Synchrone videotapes were taken of human and gibbon (Hylobatespileatus) subjects performing bipedal locomotion on a level surface. The films were analysed frame by frame and a three-dimensional stick diagram sequence, rotable in space, was generated using a specially written computer program, in order to visualise body motion. Based on these new three dimensional studies, similarities and differences in human and gibbon motion can be discovered. Although the overall displacement patterns were similar, the patterns of trunk torsion show consistent differences at various phases in the cycle. This may reflect the slight difference in biomechanical strategies used by different bipeds during walking. Bipedal running, however, represents an exclusively human locomotor pattern.