ArticleScientific reports2022
Mechanical work accounts for most of the energetic cost in human running.
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Advanced Footwear Technology in Distance Running: What We Know, What We Don't Know, and Future Directions.European journal of sport science · 2026Article
- Mind to Move: A Narrative Review of Individualized Running Biomechanics Beyond the Spring-Mass Model.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- Estimation of walking energy expenditure using a single sacrum-mounted IMU based on biomechanically-informed machine learning.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Mechanical Running Power and Energy Expenditure in Uphill and Downhill Running.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Move less, spend more: the metabolic demands of short walking bouts.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Relation between soft tissue energy dissipation and leg stiffness in running at different step frequencies.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- The work to swing limbs in humans versus chimpanzees and its relation to the metabolic cost of walking.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Article
- Linking muscle mechanics to the metabolic cost of human hopping.The Journal of experimental biology · 2023Article
- Do robots outperform humans in human-centered domains?Frontiers in robotics and AI · 2023Review
- The energetic effect of hip flexion and retraction in walking at different speeds: a modeling study.PeerJ · 2023Article
- Competing Models of Work in Quadrupedal Walking: Center of Mass Work is Insufficient to Explain Stereotypical Gait.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2022Article
- Elastic energy savings and active energy cost in a simple model of running.PLoS computational biology · 2021Article
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2 authors.
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Abstract
The metabolic cost of human running is not well explained, in part because the amount of work performed actively by muscles is largely unknown. Series elastic tissues such as tendon can save energy by performing work passively, but there are few direct measurements of the active versus passive contributions to work in running. There are, however, indirect biomechanical measures that can help estimate the relative contributions to overall metabolic cost. We developed a simple cost estimate for muscle work in humans running (N = 8) at moderate speeds (2.2-4.6 m/s) based on measured joint mechanics and passive dissipation from soft tissue deformations. We found that even if 50% of the work observed at the lower extremity joints is performed passively, active muscle work still accounts for 76% of the net energetic cost. Up to 24% of this cost compensates for the energy lost in soft tissue deformations. The estimated cost of active work may be adjusted based on assumptions of multi-articular energy transfer, elasticity, and muscle efficiency, but even conservative assumptions yield active work costs of at least 60%. Passive elasticity can reduce the active work of running, but muscle work still explains most of the overall energetic cost.
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