Spatiotemporal variability underlying skill in curved-path walking

Walking is a highly skilled motor behavior. A motor skill in that adult human walking developed through a process of motor learning and practice. As a result of this process, mature human walking is a smooth translation of the body, with a stepping pattern that is essentially automatic, reproducible and integrated with postures and phases of gait, adaptive to changes in condition and efficient in performance [1 –3]. It is because of this high degree of consistency in the stepping pattern of walking that greater gait variability during usual straight-path walking has been known to be an early indicator of mobility impairment, and associated with falls, incident mobility disability, and central nervous dys function [4–6].
Source: Gait and Posture - Category: Orthopaedics Authors: Tags: Full length article Source Type: research