Estimating the mechanical cost of transport in human walking with a simple kinematic data-driven mechanical model

PLoS One. 2024 Apr 16;19(4):e0301706. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301706. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

This work utilizes a simplified, streamlined approach to study the mechanical cost of transport in human walking. Utilizing the kinematic motion data of the center of mass, velocities and accelerations are determined using kinematic analysis; the applied force is then obtained using inverse dynamics. We calculate the mechanical cost of transport per step from both synthetic and measured data, using a very simple mechanical model of walking. The approach studied can serve as an informative gait characteristic to monitor rehabilitation in human walking.

MeSH terms

  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Gait*
  • Humans
  • Motion
  • Walking*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Academy of Finland (https://www.aka.fi/en/) for Remote Virtual Physiotherapist consortium to AM under Grant #347932; and to TR under Grant #349470 The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.