抄録
A new approach to gait analysis has been proposed in order to clarify influences of flooring materials on level walking by using a specially designed, equilateral-triangular force plate, which has many advantages over commercial plates, and which measures the three orthogonal components of the ground reaction force as well as the plantar friction as the frictional coefficient between the flooring material and the sole. The time history of the plantar friction had two peaks in one step, which was synchronous with that of the vertical ground reaction force. The plantar friction increased extremely at heel contact and toe off, the value sometimes exceeding 1.0 [-]. The plantar friction between the two peaks was, in contrast, extremely lower, with the value sometimes coming close to zero. This behavior could be explained by the sliding/rolling motion relative to the flooring material and the sole and the adhesive mechanism derived from the human skin.
