Thomas Elju E, De Vito Giuseppe, Macaluso Andrea
Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS), University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.
Eur J Appl Physiol. 2007 Jun;100(3):293-9. doi: 10.1007/s00421-007-0428-5. Epub 2007 Mar 10.
Walking on a treadmill with Body Weight Unloading (BWU), which has been successfully used on patients with neurological conditions, may also be used as a training tool to increase walking speed in healthy individuals. We hypothesised that BWU enables individuals to walk at a faster speed on a treadmill than they would do in normal gravity conditions without increasing their effort and with an increase in both stride length (SL) and stride frequency (SF). Oxygen uptake, heart rate (HR), SL and SF of six older women (mean +/- SD; 70 +/- 4 years) and six young women (26 +/- 3 years) were measured during treadmill walking at three self-selected speeds (comfortable, slow and fast) and three different percentages of BWU (0, 20 and 40%). No significant differences were found between the groups in any self-selected walking speeds and any of the other variables. The combined data of the two groups showed that walking energy cost per unit of time (WECt) and HR at fast speed with 40% of BWU (258 +/- 60 J kg(-1) min(-1) and 95 +/- 15 beats min(-1), respectively) were similar to those measured at comfortable speed with no BWU (273 +/- 47 J kg(-1) min(-1) and 101 +/- 16 beats min(-1), respectively). Also SL and SF increased significantly with speed (P < 0.017) at any given percentage of BWU. The results suggest that 40% of BWU enables both young and older women to walk at a faster speed on a treadmill without increasing their effort and with an increase in both SL and SF.
在减重跑步机上行走已成功应用于神经系统疾病患者，它也可用作提高健康个体步行速度的训练工具。我们假设，减重跑步机使个体能够在跑步机上以比在正常重力条件下更快的速度行走，且不增加其用力程度，同时步幅长度（SL）和步频（SF）均增加。在跑步机上以三种自我选择的速度（舒适、慢速和快速）以及三种不同的减重百分比（0%、20%和40%）行走时，测量了六名老年女性（平均±标准差；70±4岁）和六名年轻女性（26±3岁）的摄氧量、心率（HR）、SL和SF。在任何自我选择的步行速度和任何其他变量方面，两组之间均未发现显著差异。两组的综合数据显示，在40%减重情况下快速行走时的单位时间步行能量消耗（WECt）和心率（分别为258±60 J·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹和95±15次·min⁻¹）与在无减重情况下舒适速度行走时测量的结果（分别为273±47 J·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹和101±16次·min⁻¹）相似。在任何给定的减重百分比下，SL和SF也随速度显著增加（P<0.017）。结果表明，40%的减重使年轻和老年女性都能够在跑步机上以更快的速度行走，而不增加用力程度，且SL和SF均增加。
