Kurz Max J, Scott-Pandorf Melissa, Arellano Chris, Olsen Diane, Whitaker Greg
Laboratory of Integrated Physiology, University of Houston, Garrison 104, Houston, TX 77204-6015, USA.
J Theor Biol. 2008 May 21;252(2):272-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2008.01.012. Epub 2008 Jan 20.
Previous research has indicated that the sagittal plane gait dynamics of humans are more stable and less dependent on active neural control, while the frontal plane dynamics are less stable and require greater neural control. The higher neural demands of the frontal plane dynamics are reflected in a more variable step width than step length. Greater variability in the step width occurs because humans modulate their foot placement for each step to ensure stability and prevent falls. Compared to other terrestrial animals, penguins appear to have excessive amount of frontal plane motion in their gait that is characterized as waddling. If excessive frontal plane motion requires additional neural control and is associated with falls, it would seem that evolutionary pressures would have eliminated such locomotive strategies. Here we measured the step length and width variability to determine if waddling results in a less stable gait. Remarkably, the variability of the step width was less than the variability of the step length. These results are directly opposite of what has been reported for humans. Hence, our data indicate that waddling may be an effective strategy for ensuring stability in the frontal plane dynamics.
先前的研究表明，人类矢状面步态动力学更稳定，对主动神经控制的依赖较小，而额状面动力学则不太稳定，需要更强的神经控制。额状面动力学更高的神经需求体现在步宽比步长变化更大。步宽变化更大是因为人类会针对每一步调整脚的位置，以确保稳定性并防止跌倒。与其他陆生动物相比，企鹅的步态似乎在额状面有过多的运动，其特征为摇摆行走。如果过多的额状面运动需要额外的神经控制且与跌倒有关，那么进化压力似乎会消除这种 locomotive 策略。在这里，我们测量了步长和步宽的变化，以确定摇摆行走是否会导致步态稳定性降低。值得注意的是，步宽的变化小于步长的变化。这些结果与关于人类的报道直接相反。因此，我们的数据表明，摇摆行走可能是确保额状面动力学稳定性的一种有效策略。
