Use of a computer-controlled kinematic-electromyographic motion analysis system to investigate gait patterns of healthy subjects on the level walkway and the treadmill (author's transl)

Abstract

In an attempt to clarify the question if the level walkway and the treadmill present comparable conditions for analytic examinations of the human gait we investigated in either situation with a computer-controlled motion analysis system some kinematic and electromyographic aspects of the gait pattern of 20 healthy subjects. The results show that on the treadmill certain kinematic events in the time pattern of the gait cycle are shifted towards the beginning of the full stride. Moreover, in the treadmill walk the amplitude of the angular motion of the thigh is diminished in the forward and enhanced in the backward direction, while the angular amplitude of the shank is diminished in either direction. As to the electromyographic results, we found in the treadmill walk a prolonged activity of the gluteus maximus, and adductor magnus, the semitendinosus, and the gastrocnemius muscle. These results show that there may exist significant kinematic and electromyographic differences between the treadmill and the normal level walk. This fact has to be considered whenever a treadmill is considered for gait analytical investigations.