CGA FAQ: Treadmill Walking
Here's a summary of the replies I received from my inquiry on treadmill walking. Thanks to all
of you who helped me.
Rush Green
Human Factors Design Specialist
Boeing Commercial Airplane Group
PO Box 3707, MC 03-PR
Seattle, WA 98124-2207
phone: 425-717-5215
fax: 425-294-6054
email: Rush.F.Green@Boeing.com
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>From Rodger Kram, Ph.D.:
what you really want is contact length.
see my paper on the desgin of a force measuring treadmill
J. Applied Physiology 67:1692-1698, 1989.
paragraph on page 1692 is the one you want.
I cite the data of Rosenrot et al.
they found that for walking the distance that a foot moves on a treadmill is = 0.665 + 0.25V
where V is velocity in m/sec
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>From Peter Mills:
While not exactly what you are after these articles should be of some help.
Yamasaki, M., Sasaki, T., & Torii, M. (1991). Sex difference in the pattern of lower limb
movement during treadmill walking. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 62(2), 99-103.
Greig, C., Butler, F., Skelton, D., Mahmud, S., & Young, A. (1993). Treadmill walking in old
age may not reproduce the real life situation. Journal of the American Geriatric Society,
41(1), 15-18.
Stolze, H., Kuhtz Buschbeck, J. P., Mondwurf, C., Boczek Funcke, A., Johnk, K., Deuschl, G., &
Illert, M. (1997). Gait analysis during treadmill and overground locomotion in children and
adults. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 105(6), 490-497.
White, S. C., Yack, H. J., Tucker, C. A., & Lin, H. Y. (1998). Comparison of vertical ground
reaction forces during overground and treadmill walking. Medicine and Science in Sports and
Exercise, 30(10), 1537-1542.
Matsas, A., Taylor, N., & McBurney, H. (2000). Knee joint kinematics from familiarised
treadmill walking can be generalised to overground walking in young unimpaired subjects. Gait
and Posture, 11(1), 46-53.
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>From Scott White:
Alton, F., Braldey, L., Caplan, S. & Morrissey, MC (1998). A kinematic comparison of
overground and treadmill walking. Clin. Biomechanics. 13, 434-440.
Murray, MP., Spur, GB., Sepic, SB., Gardner, GM. & Mollinger, LA. (1985). Treadmill vs. floor
walking: kinematics, electromyogram, and heart rate. J. Appl. Physiol. 59, 87-91.
Nigg, BM., De Boer, R. & Fisher, V. (1995). A kinematic comparison of overground and treadmill
running. Med. Sci. Sports & Exerc. 27, 98-105.
Strathy, GM., Chao, EY. & Laughman, RK. (1983). Changes in knee function associated treadmill
ambulation. J. Biomechanics. 16, 517-522.
White, SC. Yack, HJ., Tucker, CA. & Lin, H-Y. (1998). Comparison of vertical ground reaction
forces during overground and treadmill walking. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 30, 1537-1542.
Zatsiorky, VM., Werner, SL. & Kaimin, MA. (1994). Basic kinematics of walking. Step length
and step frequency. A review. J. Sports Med. Physical Fitness. 34, 109-134.
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>From Alf Thorstensson:
Try:
Nilsson, J., Thorstensson, A. and Halbertsma J. Changes in leg movements and muscle activity
with speed of locomotion and mode of progression in humans. Acta Physiol Scand 1985, 123:
457-475, and
Nilsson, J. and Thorstensson, A. Adaptability in frquency and amplitude of leg movements during
human locomotion at different speeds. Acta Physiol Scand 1987, 129: 107-114.
Alf T.
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>From Morgan Williams:
this isn't treadmill walking but I thought it may be of interest:
Oberg T, Karszina A & Oberg K (1993) 'Basic gait parameters: Reference data
for normal subjects, 10-79 years of age'. Journal of rehabilitation Research
and Development. 30 (2) p 210-223.
This was sitting at my desk, if you are interested in more I'm sure I could
find some,
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>From Andrew Mahar:
Check for references for RC Nelson and C Dillman (Dickman?) for differences
between treadmill walking/running versus overground data. They did the
first work in this area at Penn State.
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>From Wagner de Godoy:
Ergonomics 1981 Jul;24(7):531-42
A kinematic study of long-term habituation to treadmill walking.
Wall JC, Charteris J
PMID: 7333270
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>From Ron Thomson:
Try emailing Stan Grant (S.Grant@bio.gla.ac.uk) - we've written some papers
on athlete/treadmill interaction. They weren't specifically about stride
length but Stan might know that anyway.
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>From Dieter Rosenbaum:
1. Barrey E, Galloux P, Valette JP, Auvinet B, Wolter R. Stride characteristics
of overground versus treadmill locomotion in the saddle horse. Acta Anat 1993;
146: 90-4.
2. Buchner HH, Savelberg HH, Schamhardt HC, Merkens HW, Barneveld A. Kinematics
of treadmill versus overground locomotion in horses. Vet Q 1994; 16 Suppl 2:
S87-90.
3. Cavanagh PR, Gregor RJ. Knee joint torque during the swing phase of normal
treadmill walking. J Biomech 1975; 8: 337-44.
4. Dingwell JB, Ulbrecht JS, Boch J, Becker MB, O'Gorman JT, Cavanagh PR.
Neuropathic gait shows only trends towards increased variability of sagittal
plane kinematics during treadmill locomotion. Gait Posture 1999; 10: 21-9.
5. Elliott BC, Blanksby BA. A cinematographic analysis of overground and
treadmill running by males and females. Med Sci Sports 1976; 8: 84-7.
6. Lemke K, Cornwall MW, McPoil TG, Schuit D. Comparison of rearfoot motion in
overground versus treadmill walking. J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 1995; 85: 243-8.
7. Matsas A, Taylor N, McBurney H. Knee joint kinematics from familiarised
treadmill walking can be generalised to overground walking in young unimpaired
subjects. Gait Posture 2000; 11: 46-53.
8. Pailhous J, Bonnard M. Steady-state fluctuations of human walking. Behav
Brain Res 1992; 47: 181-9.
9. Siler WL, Jorgensen AL, Norris RA. Grasping the handrails during treadmill
walking does not alter sagittal plane kinematics of walking. Arch Phys Med
Rehabil 1997; 78: 393-8.
10. Stolze H, Kuhtz-Buschbeck JP, Mondwurf C, Boczek-Funcke A, Johnk K, Deuschl
G, Illert M. Gait analysis during treadmill and overground locomotion in
children and adults. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 1997; 105: 490-7.
11. Strathy GM, Chao EY, Laughman RK. Changes in knee function associated with
treadmill ambulation. J Biomech 1983; 16: 517-22.
12. Van Gheluwe B, Smekens J, Roosen P. Electrodynographic evaluation of the
foot during treadmill versus overground locomotion. J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 1994;
84: 598-606.
13. Wetzel MC, Atwater AE, Wait JV, Stuart DC. Neural implications of different
profiles between treadmill and overground locomotion timings in cats. J
Neurophysiol 1975; 38: 492-501.
14. White SC, Yack HJ, Tucker CA, Lin HY. Comparison of vertical ground reaction
forces during overground and treadmill walking. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1998; 30:
1537-42.
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>From Derek Dawson:
Kroemer et al. (1997) state that a pleasant not-too-strenuous walking pace
is 75-110 steps per minute, with a stride length of 0.75 meters and rate of
1.85 strides per second.
Whittle (1996) established:
Table 1: Approximate range for general gait parameters in free-speed
(self-paced) walking by normal FEMALE subjects of different ages (Whittle,
1996)
Age(years) Cadence(steps/min) Cycle Time(s) Stride Length(m)
Speed(m/s)
13-14 103-150 0.80-1.17 0.99-1.55 0.90-1.62
15-17 100-144 0.83-1.20 1.03-1.57 0.92-1.64
18-49 98-138 0.87-1.22 1.06-1.58
0.94-1.66
50-64 97-137 0.88-1.24 1.04-1.56
0.91-1.63
65-80 96-136 0.88-1.25 0.94-1.46
0.80-1.52
Table 2: Approximate range for general gait parameters in free-speed
(self-paced) walking by normal MALE subjects of different ages (Whittle,
1996)
Age(years) Cadence(steps/min) Cycle Time(s) Stride Length(m)
Speed(m/s)
13-14 100-149 0.81-1.20 1.06-1.64 0.95-1.67
15-17 96-142 0.85-1.25 1.15-1.75
1.03-1.75
18-49 91-135 0.89-1.32 1.25-1.85
1.10-1.82
50-64 82-126 0.95-1.46 1.22-1.82
0.96-1.68
65-80 81-125 0.96-1.48 1.11-1.71
0.81-1.61
As speed of walking increases step length is increased, typical femoral
angle is increased (relative to the floor) and cadence (steps/min) is also
increased (Handler, 1935)
My own experiments have revealed that a comfortable (moderate) stride length
is 0.60 for 'older' adults. 'Young' adults stride length is about 0.75
meters
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