ArticleJournal of neurophysiology2019
Is natural variability in gait sufficient to initiate spontaneous energy optimization in human walking?
Article in Journal of neurophysiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multi-objective control in human walking: insight gained through simultaneous degradation of energetic and motor regulation systems.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2019Trial
- Natural variability can increase human walking metabolic costs and its implications to simulation-based metabolic estimation.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Behavioural energetics in human locomotion: how energy use influences how we move.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Review
- Amplitude and frequency of human gait synchronization with a machine oscillator system.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Exploration-based learning of a stabilizing controller predicts locomotor adaptation.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Review
- Gait variability of outdoor vs treadmill walking with bilateral robotic ankle exoskeletons under proportional myoelectric control.PloS one · 2023Article
- Article
- Motor control: In constant pursuit of optimality.Current biology : CB · 2022Article
- Is there a trade-off between economy and task goal variability in transfemoral amputee gait?Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2022Article
- Energy expenditure does not solely explain step length-width choices during walking.The Journal of experimental biology · 2022Article
- Can humans perceive the metabolic benefit provided by augmentative exoskeletons?Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2022Article
- Competing Models of Work in Quadrupedal Walking: Center of Mass Work is Insufficient to Explain Stereotypical Gait.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2022Article
- Humans use minimum cost movements in a whole-body task.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Evaluating the energetics of entrainment in a human-machine coupled oscillator system.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Shortcomings of human-in-the-loop optimization of an ankle-foot prosthesis emulator: a case series.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- Neuromechanics and Energetics of Walking With an Ankle Exoskeleton Using Neuromuscular-Model Based Control: A Parameter Study.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In new walking contexts, the nervous system can adapt preferred gaits to minimize energetic cost. During treadmill walking, this optimization is not usually spontaneous but instead requires experience with the new energetic cost landscape. Experimenters can provide subjects with the needed experience by prescribing new gaits or instructing them to explore new gaits. Yet in familiar walking contexts, people naturally prefer energetically optimal gaits: the nervous system can optimize cost without an experimenter's guidance. Here we test the hypothesis that the natural gait variability of overground walking provides the nervous system with sufficient experience with new cost landscapes to initiate spontaneous minimization of energetic cost. We had subjects walk over paths of varying terrain while wearing knee exoskeletons that penalized walking as a function of step frequency. The exoskeletons created cost landscapes with minima that were, on average, 8% lower than the energetic cost at the initially preferred gaits and achieved at walking speeds and step frequencies that were 4% lower than the initially preferred values. We found that our overground walking trials amplified gait variability by 3.7-fold compared with treadmill walking, resulting in subjects gaining greater experience with new cost landscapes, including frequent experience with gaits at the new energetic minima. However, after 20 min and 2.0 km of walking in the new cost landscapes, we observed no consistent optimization of gait, suggesting that natural gait variability during overground walking is not always sufficient to initiate energetic optimization over the time periods and distances tested in this study.
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