Article

A self-paced treadmill automatically adjusts speed in real-time to match the
user's walking speed, potentially enabling more natural gait than fixed-speed
treadmills. This research examined walking speed changes for able-bodied and
transtibial amputee populations on a self-paced treadmill in a multi-terrain
virtual environment and examined gait differences between fixed and self-paced
treadmill speed conditions. Twelve able-bodied (AB) individuals and 12
individuals with unilateral transtibial amputation (TT) walked in a park-like
virtual environment with level, slopes, and simulated uneven terrain scenarios.
Temporal-spatial and range-of-motion parameters were analyzed. Within the
self-paced condition, all participants significantly varied walking speed
(p<0.001) across different walking activities. Compared to level walking,
participants reduced speed for uphill and hilly activities (p<0.001). TT also
reduced speed downhill (p<0.001). Generally, differences in temporal-spatial and
range-of-motion parameters between fixed and self-paced speed conditions were no
longer significantly different with a speed covariate. However, for uphill
walking, both groups decreased stride length during self-paced trials, and
increased stride length during fixed-speed trials to maintain the constant speed
(p<0.01). The results from this study demonstrated self-paced treadmill mode is
important for virtual reality systems with multiple movement scenarios in order
to elicit more natural gait across various terrain. Fixed-speed treadmills may
induce gait compensations to maintain the fixed speed.
CI - Crown Copyright (c) 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS