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Biomechanics of the Human Gait

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Frontiers in Biomechanics

Abstract

Humans perform physical activities in a variety of ways, depending upon individual anatomical structure, physiological functions, psychomotor control patterns, and associated pathological or chronological changes. In addition, many of our physical activities are task-oriented, varying drastically due to personal habit, training, and motivation. Assuming that our limb segments are compound pendulums with multiple degrees of freedom, the infinite possibilities for achieving a given task make objective analysis and modeling of human physical activities an intractable problem in modern biomechanics. However, human locomotion represents a unique subset of such activities that can be studied with an acceptable degree of accuracy if the limb segments to be included are limited to only the lower extremities. This specific branch of biomechanics is defined as gait analysis—a quantitative description of human locomotion.

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Authors
  1. E. Y. S. Chao
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Mechanics and Engineering Sciences—Bioengineering, University of California, 92093, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA

    G. W. Schmid-Schönbein  & B. W. Zweifach  & 

  2. Department of Surgery, Division of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, University of California, 92093, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA

    S. L-Y. Woo

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© 1986 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Chao, E.Y.S. (1986). Biomechanics of the Human Gait. In: Schmid-Schönbein, G.W., Woo, S.LY., Zweifach, B.W. (eds) Frontiers in Biomechanics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4866-8_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4866-8_17

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9337-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-4866-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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