title: Preferred step frequency minimizes veering during natural human walking.
abstract: In the absence of visual information, humans cannot maintain a straight walking path. We examined the hypothesis that step frequency during walking affects the magnitude of veering in healthy adults. Subject walked at a preferred (1.77 ± 0.18 Hz), low (0.8 × preferred, 1.41 ± 0.15 Hz), and high (1.2× preferred, 2.13 ± 0.20 Hz) step frequency with and without a blindfold. We compared the absolute differences between estimated and measured points of crossing a target line after 16 m of forward walking at the three step frequencies. There was no significant difference in veering when subjects walked at the different frequencies without a blindfold. However, the magnitude of veering was the smallest at the preferred (mean ± SE=91.6 ± 33.6 cm) compared with the low (204.3 ± 43.0 cm) and high (112.7 ± 34.0 cm) frequency gaits with a blindfold. Thus, walking at a preferred step frequency minimizes veering, which occurs in the absence of visual information. This phenomenon may be associated with the previously reported minimization of movement variability, energy cost, and attentional demand while walking at a preferred step frequency.
authors: School of Health and Sport Sciences, Osaka University of Health and Sport Sciences, Sennan-gun 590-0496, Japan. azusa-gold@toki.waseda.jp
authors: Azusa
authors: A
authors: Uematsu
authors: Koh
authors: K
authors: Inoue
authors: Hiroaki
authors: H
authors: Hobara
authors: Hirofumi
authors: H
authors: Kobayashi
authors: Yuki
authors: Y
authors: Iwamoto
authors: Tibor
authors: T
authors: Hortobágyi
authors: Shuji
authors: S
authors: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013028:Space Perception; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D016138:Walking; D055815:Young Adult