Active foot placement control ensures stable gait: Effect of constraints on foot placement and ankle moments

Step-by-step foot placement control, relative to the center of mass (CoM) kinematic state, is generally considered a dominant mechanism for maintenance of gait stability. By adequate (mediolateral) positioning of the center of pressure with respect to the CoM, the ground reaction force generates a moment that prevents falling. In healthy individuals, foot placement is complemented mainly by ankle moment control ensuring stability. To evaluate possible compensatory relationships between step-by-step foot placement and complementary ankle moments, we investigated the degree of (active) foot placement control during steady-state walking, and under either foot placement-, or ankle moment constraints. Thirty healthy participants walked on a treadmill, while full-body kinematics, ground reaction forces and EMG activities were recorded. As a replication of earlier findings, we first showed step-by-step foot placement is associated with preceding CoM state and hip ab-/adductor activity during steady-state walking. Tight control of foot placement appears to be important at normal walking speed because there was a limited change in the degree of foot placement control despite the presence of a foot placement constraint. At slow speed, the degree of foot placement control decreased substantially, suggesting that tight control of foot placement is less essential when walking slowly. Step-by-step foot placement control was not tightened to compensate for constrained ankle moments. Instead compensation was achieved through increases in step width and stride frequency.