Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Reducing cost of transport in asymmetrical gaits: lessons from unilateral skipping

  • Original Article
  • Published:
European Journal of Applied Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Unilateral skipping is an asymmetrical gait only exceptionally used by humans, due to high energetic demands. In skipping, the cost of transport decreases as speed increases, and the spring–mass model coexists with the vaulting pendular one. However, the mechanisms of energy transfers and recovery between the vaulting and the bouncing steps are still unclear in this gait. The objective of this work is to study how spatiotemporal and spring–mass asymmetries impact on metabolic cost, lowering it despite speed augmentation.

Methods

Kinematics and metabolic rates of healthy subjects were measured during running and skipping on a treadmill at controlled speeds.

Results

Metabolic power in skipping and running increased with similar slope but different intercepts. This fact determined the different behaviour of the cost of transport: constant in running, decreasing in skipping. In skipping the step time asymmetry remained constant, while the step length asymmetry decreased with speed, almost disappearing at 2.5 m/s−1. Leg stiffness in trailing limb increased with higher slope than in leading limb and running; however, the relative leg stiffness asymmetry remained constant.

Conclusions

Slow skipping presents short bouncing steps, even shorter than the vaulting, impacting the stride mechanics and the metabolic cost. Faster speeds were achieved by taking longer bouncing steps and a stiffer trailing limb, allowing to improve the effectiveness of the spring–mass mechanism. The step asymmetries’ trends with respect to speed in skipping open the possibility to use this gait as an experimental paradigm to study mechanisms of metabolic cost reduction in locomotion.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability statement

All data are available in the following GitLab repository: https://gitlab.com/gpequera/paperassymskip

Abbreviations

\({\mathrm{Asym}}_{k}\) :

Leg stiffness asymmetry

\({\mathrm{Asym}}_{l}\) :

Step length asymmetry

\({\mathrm{Asym}}_{t}\) :

Step time asymmetry

CoT:

Cost of transport

\({\widehat{F}}_{\mathrm{max}}\) :

Modelled maximal force

\(g\) :

Gravity constant

\({k}_{\mathrm{leg}}\) :

Leg stiffness

\({k}_{{\mathrm{leg}}_{ld}}\) :

Leading leg stiffness

\({k}_{{\mathrm{leg}}_{tr}}\) :

Trailing leg stiffness

\(L\) :

Distance between the great trochanter to ground in a standing position

\(\Delta \widehat{L}\) :

Modelled leg displacement

\(ld\) :

Leading

\({l}_{tr\to ld}\) :

Length of pendular step

\({l}_{ld\to tr}\) :

Length of the bouncing step

\(m\) :

Subject mass

\(\mathrm{MetP}\) :

Metabolic power

\(\mathrm{SL}\) :

Stride length

\(tr\) :

Trailing

\({t}_{tr\to ld}\) :

Time of pendular step

\({t}_{ld\to tr}\) :

Time of the bouncing step

RQ:

Respiratory quotient

\(v\) :

Locomotion speed

\({\dot{\mathrm{V}}}_{{\mathrm{O}}_{2}}\) :

Oxygen uptake

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ingeniería Biológica, CENUR Litoral Norte, Universidad de La República, Paysandú, Uruguay

    G. Pequera & V. Yelós

  2. Biomechanics Lab., Dept. de Ciencias Biológicas, CENUR Litoral Norte, Universidad de la República, Paysandú, Uruguay

    G. Pequera & C. M. Biancardi

Authors
  1. G. Pequera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. V. Yelós
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. C. M. Biancardi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

GP and CB conceived and designed research, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the paper, and approved the final draft. GP, VY and CB conducted the experiments and analysed the data. All the authors read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. Pequera.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Communicated by Jean - Rene Lacour.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pequera, G., Yelós, V. & Biancardi, C.M. Reducing cost of transport in asymmetrical gaits: lessons from unilateral skipping. Eur J Appl Physiol 123, 623–631 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-05088-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-05088-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation