Chen Szu-Hua, Lo On-Yee, Kay Taylor, Chou Li-Shan
Department of Human Physiology, 122 Esslinger Hall, 1240 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA.
Department of Human Physiology, 122 Esslinger Hall, 1240 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA; Hebrew Senior Life, Harvard Medical School, Institute for Aging Research, 1200 Centre St, Boston, MA 02131, USA.
Gait Posture. 2018 May;62:422-425. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2018.04.004. Epub 2018 Apr 6.
Texting during walking has become a very common daily activity and could alter gait performance, especially during locomotion when additional visual attention is demanded, such as obstacle crossing. The purpose of this study was to examine biomechanical changes in obstructed gait characteristics while engaging in a phone texting activity. Gait analyses were performed on ten young healthy adults under the following two tasks: 1) walking and crossing an obstacle set at a 10% of the subject's height and 2) walking and crossing an obstacle while responding to a text message. Whole body motion data were collected with a 10-camera motion capture system. Our data demonstrated that a conservative gait pattern was adopted while performing texting when approaching and crossing over the obstacle, which was indicated by slower walking speeds and greater toe-obstacle clearances. This gait pattern was, however, accompanied by a greater body sway in the frontal plane during crossing, which could be an indication of perturbed gait balance control. Increased visual-attentional demand from a concurrent phone texting could negatively impact young pedestrians' safety during obstacle crossing.
走路时发短信已成为一种非常常见的日常活动，并且可能会改变步态表现，尤其是在需要额外视觉注意力的运动过程中，比如穿越障碍物时。本研究的目的是检验在进行手机短信活动时受阻步态特征的生物力学变化。对十名年轻健康成年人在以下两项任务下进行了步态分析：1）行走并穿越一个设置为受试者身高10%的障碍物；2）在回复短信的同时行走并穿越障碍物。使用一个10台摄像机的动作捕捉系统收集全身运动数据。我们的数据表明，在接近和穿越障碍物时进行短信活动时，会采用一种保守的步态模式，这表现为行走速度较慢和脚趾与障碍物之间的间隙更大。然而，这种步态模式在穿越过程中伴随着身体在额平面上更大的晃动，这可能表明步态平衡控制受到了干扰。同时进行手机短信活动导致的视觉注意力需求增加，可能会对年轻行人在穿越障碍物时的安全产生负面影响。
