The effect of gaze position on lower limb joint angle and foot clearance during walking

Abstract

Walking is a daily activity, recognizing path way, space and obstacle from gaze. Looking down lead us head flexion and center of mass moves forward. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of gaze position on lower limb joint angle and foot clearance during walking. 8 healthy young male participated walked at three different gaze position (front，floor, toe). 3d motion data and ground reaction force were collected, and calculated head flexion, lower limb joint angle，toe and heel clearance. In addition segment postural angle, joint angle range of motion (RoM), gait speed, stride were calculated. Analysis of variance were performed for each variable with gaze position. Head angle, head angle RoM showed significant difference between gaze position. In the stride length, when looking at the toes, it was significantly shorter than the front and floor. This result suggests gaze position does not affect kinematics of lower limb during walking, and only stride length is affected by gaze position.