Gait Transitions in Human Infants: Coping with Extremes of Treadmill Speed

PloS One
Erin V VasudevanJaynie F Yang

Abstract

Spinal pattern generators in quadrupedal animals can coordinate different forms of locomotion, like trotting or galloping, by altering coordination between the limbs (interlimb coordination). In the human system, infants have been used to study the subcortical control of gait, since the cerebral cortex and corticospinal tract are immature early in life. Like other animals, human infants can modify interlimb coordination to jump or step. Do human infants possess functional neuronal circuitry necessary to modify coordination within a limb (intralimb coordination) in order to generate distinct forms of alternating bipedal gait, such as walking and running? We monitored twenty-eight infants (7-12 months) stepping on a treadmill at speeds ranging between 0.06-2.36 m/s, and seventeen adults (22-47 years) walking or running at speeds spanning the walk-to-run transition. Six of the adults were tested with body weight support to mimic the conditions of infant stepping. We found that infants could accommodate a wide range of speeds by altering stride length and frequency, similar to adults. Moreover, as the treadmill speed increased, we observed periods of flight during which neither foot was in ground contact in infants and in adults. H...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jun 9, 2020·Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology·Arthur Henri DewolfYury Ivanenko
Jan 14, 2021·European Journal of Applied Physiology·Margit M BachNadia Dominici
May 28, 2021·Frontiers in Human Neuroscience·Margit M BachNadia Dominici

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