Mechanical differences between men and women during overground load carriage at self-selected walking speeds

MIDDLETON, Kane, VICKERY-HOWE, Danielle, DASCOMBE, Ben, CLARKE, Anthea, WHEAT, Jonathan, MCCLELLAND, Jodie and DRAIN, Jace (2022). Mechanical differences between men and women during overground load carriage at self-selected walking speeds. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19 (7).

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Official URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/7/3927
Open Access URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/7/3927/pdf (Published version)
Link to published version:: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19073927

Abstract

Few studies have directly compared physical responses to relative loading strategies between men and women during overground walking. This study aimed to compare gait mechanics of men and women during overground load carriage. A total of 30 participants (15 male, 15 female) completed three 10-min walking trials while carrying external loads of 0%, 20% and 40% of body mass at a self-selected walking speed. Lower-body motion and ground reaction forces were collected using a three-dimensional motion capture system and force plates, respectively. Female participants walked with a higher cadence (p = 0.002) and spent less absolute time in stance (p = 0.010) but had similar self-selected walking speed (p = 0.750), which was likely due to the female participants being shorter than the male participants. Except for ankle plantarflexion moments, there were no sex differences in spatiotemporal, kinematic, or kinetic variables (p > 0.05). Increasing loads resulted in significantly lower self-selected walking speed, greater stance time, and changes in all joint kinematics and kinetics across the gait cycle (p 0.05). In conclusion, there were few differences between sexes in walking mechanics during overground load carriage. The changes identified in this study may inform training programs to increase load carriage performance.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: ** From MDPI via Jisc Publications Router ** Licence for this article: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ **Journal IDs: eissn 1660-4601 **History: published 25-03-2022; accepted 21-03-2022
Uncontrolled Keywords: walking gait, spatiotemporal, kinematics, kinetics, military
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19073927
SWORD Depositor: Colin Knott
Depositing User: Colin Knott
Date Deposited: 29 Mar 2022 11:11
Last Modified: 29 Mar 2022 11:15
URI: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/30007

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