Open AccessDevelopment of Independent Walking in Toddlers
Author(s) -
Yuri P. Ivanenko,
Nadia Dominici,
Francesco Lacquaniti
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
exercise and sport sciences reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.945
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1538-3008
pISSN - 0091-6331
DOI - 10.1249/jes.0b013e31803eafa8
Subject(s) - toddler , gait , physical medicine and rehabilitation , bipedalism , mechanism (biology) , point (geometry) , pendulum , inverted pendulum , psychology , computer science , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , medicine , mathematics , engineering , physics , anatomy , mechanical engineering , geometry , quantum mechanics , nonlinear system
Surprisingly, despite millions of years of bipedal walking evolution, the gravity-related pendulum mechanism of walking does not seem to be implemented at the onset of independent walking, requiring each toddler to develop it. We discuss the precursor of the mature locomotor pattern in infants as an optimal starting point strategy for gait maturation.