Gait & Posture
Volume 32, Issue 2 , Pages 176-180, June 2010

The effect of evenly distributed load carrying on lower body gait dynamics for normal weight and overweight subjects

  • Benjamin Smith

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author at: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 140 Durham Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Tel.: +1 864 356 1752; fax: +1 540 231 8836.
    • ,
  • Michael Roan
    • ,
  • Minhyung Lee

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA

Received 18 February 2008; received in revised form 2 April 2010; accepted 14 April 2010. published online 17 May 2010.

Abstract 

The carrying of extra weight can cause significant injuries. This extra weight can be in the form of an external load carried by an individual or excessive body weight carried by an overweight individual. This study attempts to define the differences in lower body gait patterns caused by either external load carriage, excessive body weight, or a combination of both. Twenty-three subjects generated 115 trials of motion capture data for each loading condition. Path lengths of the phase portrait and the ranges of joint motions (hip, knee and ankle) were used to quantify subgroup differences. The study found significant gait differences due to external load carriage and excessive body weight. Within each class of normal weight and overweight subjects, differences were found in the hip and ankle path lengths when a subject carried an evenly distributed external load. This implies that these joints may be more prone to injury due to external load carriage.

Keywords: Gait analysis, Load carriage, Gait adaptation, BMI

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PII: S0966-6362(10)00113-X

doi:10.1016/j.gaitpost.2010.04.007

Gait & Posture
Volume 32, Issue 2 , Pages 176-180, June 2010

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