Influence of body mass and lower limb length on knee flexion angle during walking in humans

Abstract

BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Body size and lower limb posture during walking in humans

“…Particularly, we detected that body mass is negatively correlated with flexion at the knee at early stance. Using our model, this finding can be interpreted as a strategy to moderate the body mass-related increase of knee flexion moment by knee extension and it also corresponds to the previous findings in humans [ 32 – 34 ] and other mammals [ 2 , 27 – 29 ]. On the other hand, we did not detect any body mass-related postural adjustments at late stance.…”

“…In addition, Gruss [ 35 ] characterized the more extended knee position at late stance in longer limbed individuals as a compensatory mechanism that moderates the knee flexion moment. Nevertheless, we suggested elsewhere [ 32 ] that the net knee flexion moment at late stance is relatively low and even absent in some individuals. Therefore, it is not so evident that the relationship between knee angle and lower limb length detected by Gruss [ 35 ] (but not by others [ 32 ]) represents a knee moment moderation mechanism.…”

“…We detected that part of the variation in hip and knee flexion is accounted for by the effect of velocity, and also by sex in the case of knee flexion, which corresponds with previous studies [ 43 – 53 ]. The weakness of the relationship, the sex effect, and the persistence of the velocity effect even when walking at preferred speed likely prevented the detection of the body mass-knee flexion relationship at early stance in previous studies [ 32 ]. Other factors such as individual body mass history and lower limb musculoskeletal strength could also be of importance.…”

“…Few studies have detected a relationship between body size and locomotor posture, but these studies were either not supported by others or did not control for other factors affecting posture. In humans, more extended lower limbs during the stance phase of walking were associated with both greater body mass [ 32 – 34 ] and lower limb length [ 35 ]. However, the effect of body mass was studied either using small sample size [ 32 ] or through the comparison of lean and obese subjects only [ 33 , 34 ], while gait may also be altered by factors other than body mass (e.g., pain or mass distribution).…”

“…In humans, more extended lower limbs during the stance phase of walking were associated with both greater body mass [ 32 – 34 ] and lower limb length [ 35 ]. However, the effect of body mass was studied either using small sample size [ 32 ] or through the comparison of lean and obese subjects only [ 33 , 34 ], while gait may also be altered by factors other than body mass (e.g., pain or mass distribution). Moreover, other studies did not detect differences in posture between lean and obese humans [ 36 – 39 ].…”