Rotational and translational movement features of the pelvis and thorax during adult human locomotion.

The kinematics of the pelvis and thorax are important in gait studies since their movement patterns are closely related to gait efficiency and 'smoothness' of locomotion. The purpose of this study was to identify features of normal gait patterns for later comparisons with pathological and developmental gait patterns. A two camera SELSPOT system interfaced with an HP1000 minicomputer was used to obtain three-dimensional kinematic/temporal data for the pelvis and thorax. Data from treadmill walking of eight adults were used for within subject (at different speeds) analyses. The analyses revealed a very complex pattern with a set of breakpoints which was consistent over all subjects. Some features were invariant over a range of walking speeds although the total range of motion changed considerably.