Analysis of Degrees of Inertia Movement and Trunk Anteflexion on Inertia Harmonization in Stair Descending under Different Mass Loads and Cadences

Abstract

We investigated the inertial coordination in stair descending with different inertial forces, supposing the situation that a person wears a wearable machine. We observed five healthy adult males walking with varying mass load and cadence, and analyzed their gait and closeness to inertial movement based on a kinetic energy metric. The results illustrated that the inertia harmonization appeared in common before the heel contact of swing leg and the time duration was at most 20 % time of a step in the all subjects and the all mass-load & cadence conditions. Moreover, the trunk anteflexion of 5 deg contributed to the improvement of the inertia harmonization in mid-swing phase and terminal- double-stance phase.