A kinematic study of long-term habituation to treadmill walking

Abstract Eighteen young adult male subjects, who were naive to treadmill walking, were walked for two l0 min periods per week on a motorized treadmill for 12 weeks. The subjects were split into three groups with the six subjects in each group walking at a prescribed speed. The relative speeds chosen were 0.55 (slow), 0.86 (normal) and 1.20 (fast) statures/s. The angular and temporal kinematics of gait were analysed in order to study the habituation process. The results show that there is an initial rapid accommodation each time the subjects mount the treadmill. On the first exposure this was followed by a longer and more gradual habituation, However after five 10 min practice sessions this habituation takes place much more rapidly. The results suggest that where measurements are to be made of gait patterns using motorized treadmills, subjects should be previously habituated in distributed practice sessions for about 1 hour, and then not measured within the first 2min of performance.