The process of habituation to treadmill walking at different velocities

Eighteen young adult male subjects, who were naive to treadmill walking were walked for ten minutes on a motorised treadmill. The subjects were split into three groups with the six subjects in each group walking at a given relative speed. The use of relative speed factors out stature differences which are known to affect walking velocity. The relative speeds chosen were 0-55 (slow), 0-86 (normal) and 1-2 (fast) statures s-1. The angular kinematics and temporal aspects of gait were analysed to determine at which point in the exposure to treadmill walking a stable walking pattern was achieved. The results showed that there was an initial, rapid accommodiation to the new modality followed by a longer more gradual habituation. However even after ten minutes of treadmill walking a steady state had not been achieved in any of the groups.