ArticleeLife2023
How human runners regulate footsteps on uneven terrain.
Article in eLife, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Foot placement control underlies stable locomotion across species.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Profiling measures of muscle strength and power throughout a 156 km ultra-trail running event.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- Cultural variation in running techniques among non-industrial societies.Evolutionary human sciences · 2022Article
- Variability and the form-function framework in evolutionary biomechanics and human locomotion.Evolutionary human sciences · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Running stably on uneven natural terrain takes skillful control and was critical for human evolution. Even as runners circumnavigate hazardous obstacles such as steep drops, they must contend with uneven ground that is gentler but still destabilizing. We do not know how footsteps are guided based on the uneven topography of the ground and how those choices influence stability. Therefore, we studied human runners on trail-like undulating uneven terrain and measured their energetics, kinematics, ground forces, and stepping patterns. We find that runners do not selectively step on more level ground areas. Instead, the body's mechanical response, mediated by the control of leg compliance, helps maintain stability without requiring precise regulation of footsteps. Furthermore, their overall kinematics and energy consumption on uneven terrain showed little change from flat ground. These findings may explain how runners remain stable on natural terrain while devoting attention to tasks besides guiding footsteps.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.