Can we really walk straight

Bibliographic Data

ID8317221
AuthorsTeruo Uetake (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, corresponding author)
Year1992
Volume89
Issue1
Pages19-27
Publication date1992-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.1330890104
PMID1530060
OpenAlexW2076300537
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited21

Twenty healthy men were asked to walk as straight as possible to a target 60 m away at normal speed. A series of footprints was recorded for each subject by having him wear socks soaked with red ink and walk on white paper fixed flat to the floor. Fourier analysis was applied to determine whether the subjects actually were able to walk straight, and the results revealed that all walked in a sinuous line rather than a straight line. Periodicity and amplitude of the meandering differed from subject to subject. These facts suggest that none of us can walk in a strictly straight line; rather, we meander, primarily due to a slight structural or functional imbalance of our limbs, which produces a gait asymmetry, and secondarily due to feedback from our sense of sight, which acts to correct the shifted walking course. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc

Asymmetry · Gait · Geometry · Line (geometry) · Meander (mathematics) · Physical medicine and rehabilitation · Physics · SOCKS · Subject (documents) · Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention · Computer Science · Data Visualization and Analytics · Mathematics · Medicine · Motor Control and Adaptation · Psychology