Characteristics of gait in stepping over obstacles

Sparrow, W.A.; Shinkfield, Alison J.; Chow, S.; Begg, Rezaul

doi:10.1016/0167-9457(96)00022-x

Cited by 90 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Obstacle negotiation has been studied among a variety of species including guinea fowl (Daley and Biewener, 2011;Clark and Higham, 2011), humans (Sparrow et al, 1996;Perry et al, 2010), cats (McFadyen et al, 1999), cockroaches (Harley et al, 2009) and lizards (Kohlsdorf and Biewener, 2006;Kohlsdorf and Navas, 2007;Olberding et al, 2012;Tucker and McBrayer, 2012;Self, 2012). To negotiate obstacles, anticipatory adjustments are essential for locomotion (McFadyen et al, 1999), especially if postural adjustments are to be timed appropriately.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…hurdles), lower limb control is altered by means of knee flexion (McFadyen et al, 1999) in anticipation of the approaching obstacle. However, as obstacle height increases, the lead foot must cross earlier during a stride to allow more time to traverse the higher obstacle, implying that stride length is modified also (Sparrow et al, 1996). Thus, kinematics, behavior and stride length are each adjusted in order to clear an obstacle without contacting it and potentially stumbling (Self, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of multiple obstacles on the locomotor behavior and performance of a terrestrial lizard

Parker

McBrayer

2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Negotiation of variable terrain is important for many small terrestrial vertebrates. Variation in the running surface resulting from obstacles (woody debris, vegetation, rocks) can alter escape paths and running performance. The ability to navigate obstacles likely influences survivorship through predator evasion success and other key ecological tasks (finding mates, acquiring food). Earlier work established that running posture and sprint performance are altered when organisms face an obstacle, and yet studies involving multiple obstacles are limited. Indeed, some habitats are cluttered with obstacles, whereas others are not. For many species, obstacle density may be important in predator escape and/or colonization potential by conspecifics. This study examines how multiple obstacles influence running behavior and locomotor posture in lizards. We predict that an increasing number of obstacles will increase the frequency of pausing and decrease sprint velocity. Furthermore, bipedal running over multiple obstacles is predicted to maintain greater mean sprint velocity compared with quadrupedal running, thereby revealing a potential advantage of bipedalism. Lizards were filmed running through a racetrack with zero, one or two obstacles. Bipedal running posture over one obstacle was significantly faster than quadrupedal posture. Bipedal running trials contained fewer total strides than quadrupedal ones. But on addition of a second obstacle, the number of bipedal strides decreased. Increasing obstacle number led to slower and more intermittent locomotion. Bipedalism provided clear advantages for one obstacle, but was not associated with further benefits for an additional obstacle. Hence, bipedalism helps mitigate obstacle negotiation, but not when numerous obstacles are encountered in succession.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of multiple obstacles on the locomotor behavior and performance of a terrestrial lizard

Parker

McBrayer

2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Interestingly, TC of the leading limb increases as a function of obstacle height to ensure a sufficient margin over the obstacle but this increase ceased when the obstacle height reached approximately 8 cm Sparrow et al, 1996;Austin et al, 1999). In contrast to TC changes in the leading limb, the TC of the trailing limb is not influenced by increases in obstacle height (Chou & Draganich, 1998).…”

Section: Toe Clearancementioning

confidence: 94%

“…(Patla et al, 1989Chen et al, 1991;Sparrow et al, 1996 ;Austin et al, 1997). These findings help us to understand the effects of the object location on the walking path, cue time, the presence of distracters during walking, the influence of physical impairment and/or deterioration on obstacle crossing strategies in terms of dynamic postural control.…”

Section: Obstacle Crossing/avoidancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Locomotor Adjustments Made by Toddlers While Stepping Over Obstacles

Zhang¹,

Gordon²,

Robertson³

et al. 2007

Journal of Biomechanics

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Characteristics of single and double obstacle avoidance strategies: a comparison between adults and children

Berard

Vallis

2006

Exp Brain Res

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Activities of daily living often require us to negotiate several obstacles in the travel path. To date, there is little work investigating how adults accomplish such tasks, and there is even less known about multiple obstacle avoidance strategies used by children. The current work will expand our knowledge about the role of vision in adults and children when avoiding two obstacles placed in their travel path under altered ambient lighting. Healthy 7-year old children (n=10; aged 7.51+/-0.2 years) and adults (n=10; aged 22.76+/-1.7 years) were instrumented with infrared markers (Optotrak, NDI) placed on anatomical landmarks and asked to walk along a ten meter path under three conditions: unobstructed, single obstacle, or double obstacle. These trials were performed under two lighting conditions: Full (simulating standard office lighting) and Low (simulating a dark hallway lit by nightlights). Data analyses included lead and trail clearance values, step length, step width and step velocity, take-off distance and Horizontal toe Displacement at Apex (HDA) which was defined as the distance between the horizontal position of the toe to the leading edge of the obstacle when the toe reaches its peak height. Adults were able to maintain consistent behaviour regardless of the number of obstacles in the travel path. Children, however, adjusted their foot placement for the second obstacle. This indicates that having multiple obstacles in the travel path is a more challenging task for 7-year old, and suggests that children at this age may not have fully developed anticipatory locomotor strategies. Children had larger clearance values than adults for the lead foot crossing the obstacle under all obstacle and lighting conditions, and consistently used larger HDA values than adults. Together, these findings suggest that children adopt more cautious strategies than adults in complex environments. Additionally, children decreased walking velocity, increased step width and decreased their step length in a Low light environment. These changes are all indicators of a more careful avoidance strategy, which implies that children at this age rely heavily on visual information to guide foot placements in a complex environment.

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Characteristics of gait in stepping over obstacles

Cited by 90 publications

References 10 publications

The effects of multiple obstacles on the locomotor behavior and performance of a terrestrial lizard

The effects of multiple obstacles on the locomotor behavior and performance of a terrestrial lizard

Locomotor Adjustments Made by Toddlers While Stepping Over Obstacles

Characteristics of single and double obstacle avoidance strategies: a comparison between adults and children

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