Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Institute of Liberal Arts, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 1-1 Sensui-cho, Tobata-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka, 804-8550, Japan.
Department of Clothing, Faculty of Human Sciences and Design, Japan Women's University, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 112-8681, Japan.
Exp Brain Res. 2020 Dec;238(12):2973-2982. doi: 10.1007/s00221-020-05954-0. Epub 2020 Oct 19.
Pole walking (PW) has received attention not only as a whole-body exercise that can be adapted for elderly people with poor physical fitness but also as a possible intervention for the restoration of gait function in normal walking without the use of poles (i.e., conventional walking CW). However, the characteristics of PW, especially how and why PW training affects CW, remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of locomotor adaptation in PW from the perspective of kinematic variables. For this purpose, we compared the locomotor adaptation in PW and CW to that when walking on a split-belt treadmill in terms of spatial and temporal coordination. The result showed that adaptations to the split-belt treadmill in PW and CW were found only in interlimb parameters (step length and double support time ratios (fast/slow limb)), not in intralimb parameters (stride length and stance time ratios). In these interlimb parameters, the movement patterns acquired through split-belt locomotor adaptations (i.e., the aftereffects) were transferred between CW and PW regardless of whether the novel movement patterns were learned in CW or PW. The aftereffects of double support time and step length learned in CW were completely washed out by the subsequent execution in PW. On the other hand, the aftereffect of double support time learned in PW was not completely washed out by the subsequent execution in CW, whereas the aftereffect of step length learned in PW was completely washed out by the subsequent execution in CW. These results suggest that the neural mechanisms related to controlling interlimb parameters are shared between CW and PW, and it is possible that, in interlimb coordination, temporal coordination is preferentially stored in adaptation during PW.
极点行走（Pole walking，PW）不仅作为一种适合身体虚弱的老年人的全身运动而受到关注，而且还作为一种可能的干预措施，可以恢复正常行走（即常规行走 CW）时不使用拐杖的步态功能。然而，PW 的特点，尤其是 PW 训练如何以及为何影响 CW，仍不清楚。本研究的目的是从运动学变量的角度探讨 PW 的运动适应特征。为此，我们比较了 PW 和 CW 在空间和时间协调方面对跑步机分带的运动适应，以探讨 PW 的运动适应特征。结果表明，PW 和 CW 在跑步机分带的适应仅存在于肢体间参数（步长和双支撑时间比（快/慢肢））中，而不存在肢体内参数（步长和支撑时间比）中。在这些肢体间参数中，通过跑步机分带运动适应获得的运动模式（即后效）在 CW 和 PW 之间传递，无论新的运动模式是在 CW 还是 PW 中学习的。在 CW 中学习的双支撑时间和步长的后效在随后的 PW 执行中完全消失。另一方面，在 PW 中学习的双支撑时间的后效在随后的 CW 执行中没有完全消失，而在 PW 中学习的步长的后效在随后的 CW 执行中完全消失。这些结果表明，与控制肢体间参数相关的神经机制在 CW 和 PW 之间共享，并且在肢体间协调中，时间协调可能优先存储在 PW 期间的适应中。
