When standing on a slope, a human adjusts his or her posture, i.e., ankle joint angles adjust to the gradient of the slope. In such adaptive behavior, ground reaction forces play an important role. Based on this view, we propose a new posture control law that employs PD and force feedback control, and prove its effectiveness in creating local stability. Applying this control law to a simple rob...

Gait analysis has been extensively performed in dogs and horses; however, very little is known about feline biomechanics. It was, therefore, the aim of this study to determine the coefficient of variation (CV) among three ground reaction force (GRF) measurements taken for 15 client-owned European shorthaired cats without a training period and a short acclimatisation time. Gait was measured as e...

Several forces are always exerted to the locomotion systems such as inertial forces, gravitational forces, and ground reaction forces. Among them, we here focus on the ground reaction forces to consider the balance control of the simple two-link model in the sagittal plane, which contains one actuator at the ankle and two force sensors on the sole. To keep the balance, it is necessary that the ...

Adherents claim many benefits from the practice of yoga, including promotion of bone health and prevention of osteoporosis. However, no known studies have investigated whether yoga enhances bone mineral density. Furthermore, none have estimated reaction forces applied by yoga practitioners. The purpose of this study was to collect ground reaction force (GRF) data on a variety of hatha yoga post...

Simple methods to quantify ground reaction forces (GRFs) outside a laboratory setting are needed to understand daily loading sustained by the body. Here, we present methods to estimate peak vertical GRF (pGRFvert) and peak braking GRF (pGRFbrake) in adults using raw hip activity monitor (AM) acceleration data. The purpose of this study was to develop a statistically based model to estimate pGRF...

We discuss a new mechanism leading to a matrix product form for the stationary state of one-dimensional stochastic models. The corresponding algebra is quadratic and involves four different matrices. For the example of a coagulation-decoagulation model explicit four-dimensional representations are given and exact expressions for various physical quantities are recovered. We also find the genera...

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not the neuromuscular locomotor system is optimized at a unique speed by examining the variability of the ground reaction force (GRF) pattern during walking in relation to different constant speeds. Ten healthy male subjects were required to walk on a treadmill at 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0 km/h. Three components [vertical (F(z)), an...

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a manifestation of systemic atherosclerosis significantly reducing arterial blood to the lower extremities. Up to 12 million people in the USA suffer from PAD with claudication as the most common clinical manifestation. These claudicants have an inability to ambulate with a normal gait secondary to pain and fatigue of ischemic muscles. As the affected muscle...

OBJECTIVE Claudication is the most common manifestation of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), producing significant ambulatory compromise. The gait of claudicating patients has been evaluated using primarily temporal and spatial parameters. With the present study, we used advanced biomechanical measures to further delineate the ambulatory impairment of claudicating patients. We hypothesized tha...

The study gives up findings of ground reaction force (GRF) measurement in traumatic transtibial amputees (TT) equipped with prosthesis. Results disclose significant asymmetries between the amputated and healthy legs, as well as between transtibial amputees and non-disabled persons. Decreased GRF of prosthesis (max. horizontal force Fx2 and medio-lateral Fy1 (p < 0.05), max. vertical force Fz1 d...