Walking Cadence Affects the Recruitment of the Medial-Lateral Balance Mechanisms

Bibliographic Data

ID4709154
AuthorsTyler Fettrow (0000-0003-3325-6726), Hendrik Reimann (0000-0002-3418-9345), David Grenet (0000-0003-1823-4801), Jeremy R Crenshaw (0000-0002-5108-3630), Jeremy Crenshaw, Jill Higginson, Jill S Higginson (0000-0002-4746-3307), John Jeka (0000-0002-6649-394X)
Year2019
Volume1
Pages40-40
Publication date2019-10-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Sports and Active Living (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2624-9367 • E-ISSN: 2624-9367
PublisherFrontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fspor.2019.00040
PMID33344963
OpenAlexW2977774508
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited67

We have previously identified three balance mechanisms that young healthy adults use to maintain balance while walking. The three mechanisms are: (1) The lateral ankle mechanism, an active modulation of ankle inversion/eversion in stance; (2) The foot placement mechanism, an active shift of the swing foot placement; and (3) The push-off mechanism, an active modulation of the ankle plantarflexion angle during double stance. Here we seek to determine whether there are changes in neural control of balance when walking at different cadences and speeds. Twenty-one healthy young adults walked on a self-paced treadmill while immersed in a 3D virtual reality cave, and periodically received balance perturbations (bipolar galvanic vestibular stimulation) eliciting a perceived fall to the side. Subjects were instructed to match two cadences specified by a metronome, 110 bpm (High) and 80 bpm (Low), which in this experiment, led to faster and slower gait speeds, respectively. The results indicate that subjects altered the use of the balance mechanisms at different cadences. The lateral ankle mechanism was used more in the Low condition, while the foot placement mechanism was used more in the High condition. There was no difference in the use of the push-off mechanism between cadence conditions. These results suggest that neural control of balance is altered when gait characteristics, such as cadence change, suggesting a flexible balance response that is sensitive to the constraints of the gait cycle. We speculate that the use of the balance mechanisms may be a factor resulting in well-known characteristics of gait in populations with compromised balance control, such as slower gait speed in older adults or higher cadence in people with Parkinson's disease

Ankle · Balance (ability · Cadence · Gait · Metronome · Physical medicine and rehabilitation · Physical therapy · Rhythm · Treadmill · Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention · Cerebral Palsy and Movement Disorders · Medicine · Motor Control and Adaptation · Psychology · Anatomy

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