Unstable Footwear as a Speed-Dependent Noise-Based Training Gear to Exercise Inverted Pendulum Motion During Walking

摘要

Previous research on unstable footwear has suggested that it may induceplantar mechanical noise during walking. The purpose of this study was toexplore whether unstable footwear could be considered as a noise-based traininggear to exercise body center of mass (CoM) motion during walking or not. Groundreaction forces were collected among 24 healthy young women walking at speedsbetween 3 and 6 km h-1 with control running shoes and unstable rocker-bottomshoes. The external mechanical work, the recovery of mechanical energy of theCoM during and within the step cycles, and the phase shift between potentialand kinetic energy curves of the CoM were computed. Our findings support theidea that unstable rocker-bottom footwear could serve as a speed-dependentnoise- based training gear to exercise CoM motion during walking. At slowspeed, it acts as a stochastic resonance or facilitator, whereas at brisk speedit acts as a constraint.