Oxygen consumption, heart rate and step cycle for crawling on level treadmill (0.8km/h) with homologous, homolateral, or diagonal pattern were measured in eight healthy male subjects aged from 20 to 34 years. Both oxygen consumption and heart rate were the highest during crawling with homologous pattern and the lowest with diagonal one. The increase of oxygen consumption was closely related to the change of heart rate between the three patterns. These results indicate that the order of energy cost during crawling with the three patterns follows phylogenetic and ontogenetic order, and that the measurement of heart rate is clinically applicable in stead of the measurement of oxygen consumption to compare the intensity of exercise during crawling with different patterns.