McMahon T A
J Exp Biol. 1985 Mar;115:263-82. doi: 10.1242/jeb.115.1.263.
The running gaits used by both bipedal and quadrupedal animals are reviewed and contrasted. At high speeds, bipeds use both ordinary running, in which the legs move opposite one another, and hopping. Quadrupeds generally use the trot or its variations at moderate speeds, and first the canter and then the gallop as speed increases. Running in both bipeds and quadrupeds generally involves at least one aerial phase per stride cycle, but certain perturbations to running including running in circles, running under enhanced gravity, running on compliant surfaces and running with increased knee flexion (Groucho running) can reduce the aerial phase, even to zero. A conceptual model of running based on the idea that an animal rebounds from the ground like a resonant mass-spring system may be used to compare the various gaits. The model makes specific predictions which show that galloping is generally faster than cantering, pronking or trotting, and requires lower peak vertical forces on the legs while also giving a smoother ride. Even so, trotting might be preferred to galloping at low and moderate speeds for the same reason that normal running is preferred to Groucho running-the more compliant gait offers a smoother ride and lower vertical ground-reaction forces on the feet, but this can only be obtained at a high cost of increased metabolic power.
对两足动物和四足动物使用的奔跑步态进行了综述和对比。在高速时，两足动物既使用普通奔跑（双腿交替运动），也使用跳跃。四足动物在中等速度时通常使用小跑或其变体，随着速度增加，先是慢跑，然后是疾驰。两足动物和四足动物的奔跑通常在每个步幅周期中至少有一个腾空阶段，但某些对奔跑的干扰，包括绕圈跑、在增强重力下奔跑、在柔软表面上奔跑以及增加膝盖弯曲度奔跑（滑稽跑步），可以减少腾空阶段，甚至减至零。基于动物像共振质量 - 弹簧系统一样从地面反弹的概念建立的奔跑概念模型，可用于比较各种步态。该模型做出了具体预测，表明疾驰通常比慢跑、跳跃或小跑更快，并且在腿部所需的垂直力峰值更低，同时骑行也更平稳。即便如此，在低速和中等速度下，小跑可能比疾驰更受青睐，原因与正常奔跑比滑稽跑步更受青睐相同——更柔顺的步态能提供更平稳的骑行以及作用在脚上更低的垂直地面反作用力，但这只能以增加代谢功率为高昂代价来实现。
