Discipline of Sport and Exercise Science, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Bundoora 3086, Australia.
Applied Sport Science and Exercise Testing Laboratory, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Newcastle, Ourimbah 2258, Australia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Mar 25;19(7):3927. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19073927.
Few studies have directly compared physical responses to relative loading strategies between men and women during overground walking. This study aimed to compare gait mechanics of men and women during overground load carriage. A total of 30 participants (15 male, 15 female) completed three 10-min walking trials while carrying external loads of 0%, 20% and 40% of body mass at a self-selected walking speed. Lower-body motion and ground reaction forces were collected using a three-dimensional motion capture system and force plates, respectively. Female participants walked with a higher cadence (p = 0.002) and spent less absolute time in stance (p = 0.010) but had similar self-selected walking speed (p = 0.750), which was likely due to the female participants being shorter than the male participants. Except for ankle plantarflexion moments, there were no sex differences in spatiotemporal, kinematic, or kinetic variables (p > 0.05). Increasing loads resulted in significantly lower self-selected walking speed, greater stance time, and changes in all joint kinematics and kinetics across the gait cycle (p < 0.05). In conclusion, there were few differences between sexes in walking mechanics during overground load carriage. The changes identified in this study may inform training programs to increase load carriage performance.
很少有研究直接比较男性和女性在地面行走时相对负重策略的身体反应。本研究旨在比较男性和女性在携带外部负荷时的步态力学。共有 30 名参与者（15 名男性，15 名女性）在自我选择的步行速度下，分别进行了三次 10 分钟的步行试验，携带 0%、20%和 40%体重的外部负荷。使用三维运动捕捉系统和力板分别收集下半身运动和地面反作用力。女性参与者的步频更高（p = 0.002），支撑期的绝对时间更短（p = 0.010），但自我选择的步行速度相似（p = 0.750），这可能是因为女性参与者比男性参与者矮。除了踝关节跖屈力矩外，在时空、运动学或动力学变量方面没有性别差异（p > 0.05）。增加负荷会导致自我选择的步行速度显著降低、支撑期时间延长，以及整个步态周期中所有关节运动学和动力学的变化（p < 0.05）。总之，在地面负重行走时，男女之间的行走力学差异很小。本研究中发现的变化可能为提高负重能力的训练计划提供信息。
