The role of environmental constraints in walking: Effects of steering and sharp turns on gait dynamics

Abstract

Stride durations in gait exhibit long-range correlation (LRC) which tends to disappear with certain movement disorders. The loss of LRC has been hypothesized to result from a reduction of functional degrees of freedom of the neuromuscular apparatus. A consequence of this theory is that environmental constraints such as the ones induced during constant steering may also reduce LRC. Furthermore, obstacles may perturb control of the gait cycle and also reduce LRC. To test these predictions, seven healthy participants walked freely overground in three conditions: unconstrained, constrained (constant steering), and perturbed (frequent 90° turns). Both steering and sharp turning reduced LRC with the latter having a stronger effect. Competing theories explain LRC in gait by positing fractal CPGs or a biomechanical process of kinetic energy reuse. Mediation analysis showed that the effect of the experimental manipulation in the current experiment depends partly on a reduction in walking speed. This supports the biomechanical theory. We also found that the local Hurst exponent did not reflect the frequent changes of heading direction. This suggests that the recovery from the sharp turn perturbation, a kind of relaxation time, takes longer than the four to seven meters between successive turns in the present study.

Rhythmic abilities and musical training in Parkinson’s disease: do they help?

“…A “synchronization score” in gait and tapping, indicating how well participants aligned their movements to the beat was calculated, varying from 0 (no synchronization) to 1 (maximal synchronization). 40 , 44 …”

Individualization of music‐based rhythmic auditory cueing in Parkinson's disease

“…Participants’ ability to move to the beat of rhythmic stimuli was tested by computing the synchronization between heel strikes and the beat times. A synchronization score, from 0 to 1, also referred to as “synchronization consistency,” indicated how well participants aligned their footfalls to the beats . A score of 0 referred to lack of alignment between the footfalls and the beats while 1 indicated perfectly consistent alignment (maximal phase locking of the steps to the beat).…”

“…A synchronization score, from 0 to 1, also referred to as "synchronization consistency," 32,57 indicated how well participants aligned their footfalls to the beats. 29,55,58 A score of 0 referred to lack of alignment between the footfalls and the beats while 1 indicated perfectly consistent alignment (maximal phase locking of the steps to the beat). Beat perception was tested with the Beat Alignment Test (BAT), 59 taken from the Battery for the Assessment of Auditory Sensorimotor and Timing Abilities (BAASTA).…”

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“…Importantly, the degree to which human behavioural variability is non-random or self-similar is assumed to reflect the complexity or nested interdependence of the sensorimotor, cognitive, social and environmental processes that define a given task context 11 . Consistent with this assumption, there is now a growing body of research demonstrating how the structure of behavioural fluctuations varies across different experimental manipulations and tasks constraints 10,12,14,[19][20][21][22] . For instance, Dotov, Bardy, & Dalla Bella 19 investigated the effects of environmental constraints on walking dynamics using the α exponent from participants' time series of stride durations.…”

“…Consistent with this assumption, there is now a growing body of research demonstrating how the structure of behavioural fluctuations varies across different experimental manipulations and tasks constraints 10,12,14,[19][20][21][22] . For instance, Dotov, Bardy, & Dalla Bella 19 investigated the effects of environmental constraints on walking dynamics using the α exponent from participants' time series of stride durations. They found that α decreased significantly when participants had to continuously steer along an elliptical pathway (constrained), versus when they were freely walking along an athletic track (unconstrained) and decreased Figure 1.…”