Kinematic and Kinetic Patterns in Human Gait: Variability and Compensating Effects

In the presence of fairly well defined kinematic patterns in human walking there was considerable variability at the kinetic level. Intra-subject variability of joint moment patterns over the stride period was high at the knee and hip, but low at the ankle and in a recently defined total limb pattern, called support moment. A similar profile of variability was evident for inter-subject trials at slow, natural and fast cadences, with the percentage variability at the knee and hip decreasing as cadence increases. These moment of force patterns were not random, but were highly correlated. Such a finding points to compensating mechanisms by the biarticulate muscles crossing these joints. Also shown was the fact that these compensating patterns were highly predictable from link segment theory.