Article

This study determined whether walking at the preferred stride frequency minimizes
muscle activity compared with other cadences at the same speed. Anthropometric
measurements were recorded from 10 subjects and used to estimate their predicted
resonant stride frequency.
The preferred walking speed and stride frequency were
determined from freely adopted walking on a treadmill.
For the experimental
trials the treadmill was set at each individual's preferred walking speed.
Participants walked for 6 min at eight cadences prescribed by an auditory
metronome: preferred stride frequency and -35, -25, -15, 0, +15, +25, +35% of
predicted resonant stride frequency. Oxygen consumption was measured via gas
analysis. Muscle activity of the right leg gastrocnemius (GA), tibialis anterior
(TA), biceps femoris (BF) and rectus femoris (RF) muscles was recorded via
electromyography (EMG). On average, participants preferred to walk with a stride
frequency .07 Hz lower than their predicted resonant stride frequency, however a
strong positive correlation was observed between these variables. Stride
frequency had a significant and large quadratic effect on VO2 (RLR(2)=.76), and
activity of the GA (RLR(2)=.66), TA (RLR(2)=.83), BF (RLR(2)=.70) and RF
(RLR(2)=.78) muscles. VO2, GA and TA activity were all minimal at the preferred
stride frequency and increased for faster or slower cadences. BF and RF activity
were minimal across a broad range of slow frequencies including the preferred
stride frequency and increased for faster frequencies. The preferred stride
frequency that humans readily adopt during walking minimizes the activation of
the GA, TA, BF and RF muscles, which in turn minimizes the overall metabolic cost.
CI - Copyright (c) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS