Animals modify their behavior constantly to perform adequately in their environment. In terrestrial locomotion many forms of adaptation exist. Two tasks are changes of walking direction and walking speed. We investigated these two changes in motor output in the stick insect Cuniculina impigra to see how they are brought about at the level of leg motor neurons. We used a semi-intact preparation ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate which strategies transtibial amputees use to cope with challenges of gait stability and gait adaptability, and how these strategies differ from strategies used by able-bodied controls. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING An instrumented treadmill mounted onto a 6°-of-freedom motion platform in combination with a virtual environment. PARTICIPANTS Transtibial ampu...

[Purpose] The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of progressive body weight supported treadmill forward and backward walking training (PBWSTFBWT), progressive body weight supported treadmill forward walking training (PBWSTFWT), progressive body weight supported treadmill backward walking training (PBWSTBWT), on stroke patients' affected side lower extremity's walking abilit...

The problem of biped locomotion at steady speeds is discussed through the Lagrangian formulation developed for velocity-dependent, body driving forces. Human walking on a level surface is analyzed in terms of the data on the resultant ground-reaction force and the external work. It is shown that the trajectory of the human center of mass is due to a superposition of its rectilinear motion with ...

It was shown some time ago that cutaneous reflexes were phase-reversed when comparing forward and backward treadmill walking. Activity of central-pattern-generating networks (CPG) regulating neural activity for locomotion was suggested as a mechanism involved in this "program reversal." We have been investigating the neural control of arm movements and the role for CPG mechanisms in regulating ...

Schneider, Cyril and Charles Capaday. Progressive adaptation of the soleus H-reflex with daily training at walking backward. J Neurophysiol 89: 648–656, 2003; 10.1152/jn.00403.2002. When untrained subjects walk backward on a treadmill the amplitude of the soleus H-reflex in midswing is equal to or exceeds the value in stance. This is a surprising result because during the swing phase of backwar...