Researchers at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and Teikyo University of Science have shown for the first time in the world that the twisting stress of the lower limbs that occurs during walking correlates with the relative amount of twist (angle) between the foot and pelvis.
Even when a human is walking straight, the body segments such as sneakers, peaches, and pelvis each make a three-dimensional rotational movement, and the walking foot tends to rotate outward when touching the ground.On the other hand, since the sole of the foot is fixed by friction with the floor surface, twisting stress is generated on the entire lower limbs.It was not well understood how the torsional stress generated in the lower limbs was related to physical exercise.
This time, the research team focused on the free moment (force generated by friction), which has not received much attention until now, as an index of torsional stress.As a result of analyzing the walking motion focusing on this parameter, it was suggested that the twisting stress generated in the lower limbs is controlled by the softness of the hip joint when the foot kicks the ground.In other words, it was found that the less flexible the hip joint, the more the twisting stress on the lower limbs tends to increase.
This result shows the need to consider the human body not only in each segment but also as a whole, and for rehabilitation and prevention of health problems in the super-aging society, especially locomotive syndrome such as knee osteoarthritis. It is expected to utilize it.
Paper information:[Gait and Posture] The free moment is associated with torsion between the pelvis and the foot during gait