Planar Law of Intersegmental Coordination during Bipedal Walking in Japanese Macaques and Humans

摘要

We investigated covariation of the elevation angles of the lower limb segments during bipedal walking in bipedally-trained Japanese macaques and humans with a view to understand the mechanism underlying the origin and evolution of the planar law in human bipedal walking. Two highly trained Japanese macaques and two adult humans walking on a treadmill were recorded, and the time course of the elevation angles at the thigh, shank and foot segments relative to the vertical axis were calculated. Our analyses indicated that this planar law also holds true for macaque bipedal walking. However, the orientations of the plane are largely apart in the two species, indicating that the way the limb segments are kinematically coordinated is variable according to species, possibly due to the difference in the anatomy and mechanics of the foot segment.