Open AccessEffects of Obesity on the Biomechanics of Walking at Different Speeds
Author(s) -
R. Browning,
Rodger Kram
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
medicine and science in sports and exercise
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.703
H-Index - 224
eISSN - 1530-0315
pISSN - 0195-9131
DOI - 10.1249/mss.0b013e318076b54b
Subject(s) - sagittal plane , medicine , coronal plane , ground reaction force , gait , ankle , treadmill , knee joint , preferred walking speed , biomechanics , physical medicine and rehabilitation , physical therapy , orthodontics , kinematics , anatomy , physics , surgery , classical mechanics
Walking is a recommended form of exercise for the treatment of obesity, but walking may be a critical source of biomechanical loads that link obesity and musculoskeletal pathology, particularly knee osteoarthritis. We hypothesized that compared with normal-weight adults 1) obese adults would have greater absolute ground-reaction forces (GRF) during walking, but their GRF would be reduced at slower walking speeds; and 2) obese adults would have greater sagittal-plane absolute leg-joint moments at a given walking speed, but these moments would be reduced at slower walking speeds.