Is There an Optimal Recovery Step Landing Zone Against Slip-Induced Backward Falls During Walking?

Overview

Journal Ann Biomed Eng

Specialty Biomedical Engineering

Date 2020 Mar 14

PMID 32166627

Citations 7

Authors

Shuaijie Wang

Yi-Chung Pai

Tanvi Bhatt

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Recovery stepping in response to forward slips has the potential to not only rebuild the base of support to prevent backward falling, but also provide extra limb support to prevent downward falling. Hence, recovery stepping is often necessary for fall prevention following an unexpected slip. However, less is known about whether recovery foot placement could affect the likelihood of recovery following a slip. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is an optimal recovery landing zone within which older adults have a higher likelihood of recovery. 195 participants experienced a novel, unannounced forward slip while walking on a 7-m walkway. The center of mass (COM) stability (computed from its position and velocity), vertical limb support (computed from change in hip kinematics), and recovery limb joint moments (computed from joint kinematics and ground reaction force) in the sagittal plane were analyzed. The results showed that a longer distance between recovery foot landing position and the projected COM position at recovery foot touchdown (relative recovery step placement) was conducive to stability improvement but adverse to limb support enhancement, and vice versa for a shorter distance. Relative recovery step placement could predict the recovery likelihood with an accuracy of 67.3%, and the recovery rate was greater than 50% when the distance between recovery foot and COM is less than 0.3 × foot length. This study also found more posterior stepping could be attributed to insufficient ankle plantar flexor and hip flexor moments in the pre-swing phase, while more anterior stepping was induced by insufficient hip and knee extensor moments in the following swing phase.

Citing Articles

Effect of Aging and Cortical Stroke on Motor Adaptation to Overground Gait-Slips: Quantifying Differences in Adaptation Rate and Adaptation Plateau.

Purohit R, Wang S, Bhatt T Biomechanics (Basel). 2025; 3(1):29-44.

PMID: 39802458 PMC: 11722462. DOI: 10.3390/biomechanics3010003.

Classification and Definitions of Compensatory Protective Step Strategies in Older Adults: A Scoping Review.

Melo-Alonso M, Murillo-Garcia A, Leon-Llamas J, Villafaina S, Gomez-Alvaro M, Morcillo-Parras F J Clin Med. 2024; 13(2).

PMID: 38276141 PMC: 10816706. DOI: 10.3390/jcm13020635.

Functional electrical stimulation to enhance reactive balance among people with hemiparetic stroke.

Purohit R, Varas-Diaz G, Bhatt T Exp Brain Res. 2024; 242(3):559-570.

PMID: 38214733 PMC: 11708893. DOI: 10.1007/s00221-023-06729-z.

Purohit R, Wang S, Dusane S, Bhatt T Gait Posture. 2023; 102():186-192.

PMID: 37031629 PMC: 11708832. DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2023.03.011.

Provoking Artificial Slips and Trips towards Perturbation-Based Balance Training: A Narrative Review.

Ferreira R, Ribeiro N, Figueiredo J, Santos C Sensors (Basel). 2022; 22(23).

PMID: 36501958 PMC: 9740792. DOI: 10.3390/s22239254.

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