LAUSR

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of gait stability induced by treadmill accelerations during self-paced treadmill walking (SPW). Local dynamic stability (LDS) of three-dimensional upper body accelerations and hip angles were quantified. The results demonstrated that SPW was more unstable and had higher risk of falling than FSW under the impact of treadmill accelerations. The frequency domain analysis of treadmill speed indicated that intra-stride treadmill speed variation was the dominating cause of the instability, self-paced control strategies which can reduce the intra-stride variation may achieve higher gait stability during SPW.