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J Appl Physiol 95: 838-843, 2003. First published April 11, 2003; doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00128.2003
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A feedback-controlled treadmill (treadmill-on-demand) and the spontaneous speed of walking and running in humans

Alberto E. Minetti,1 Lorenzo Boldrini,1 Laura Brusamolin,1 Paola Zamparo ,1,2 and Tom McKee1

1Centre for Biophysical and Clinical Research into Human Movement, Manchester Metropolitan University, ST7 2HL Alsager, United Kingdom; and 2Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biomediche, 33100 Udine, Italy

Submitted 7 February 2003 ; accepted in final form 4 April 2003

ABSTRACT

A novel apparatus, composed by a controllable treadmill, a computer, and an ultrasonic range finder, is here proposed to help investigation of many aspects of spontaneous locomotion. The acceleration or deceleration of the subject, detected by the sensor and processed by the computer, is used to accelerate or decelerate the treadmill in real time. The system has been used to assess, in eight subjects, the self-selected speed of walking and running, the maximum "reasonable" speed of walking, and the minimum reasonable speed of running at different gradients (from level up to +25%). This evidenced the speed range at which humans neither walk nor run, from 7.2 ± 0.6 to 8.4 ± 1.1 km/h for level locomotion, slightly narrowing at steeper slopes. These data confirm previous results, obtained indirectly from stride frequency recordings. The self-selected speed of walking decreases with increasing gradient (from 5.0 ± 0.8 km/h at 0% to 3.0 ± 0.9 km/h at +25%) and seems to be ~30% higher than the speed that minimizes the metabolic energy cost of walking, obtained from the literature, at all the investigated gradients. The advantages, limitations, and potential applications of the newly proposed methodology in physiology, biomechanics, and pathology of locomotion are discussed in this paper.

biomechanics; physiology; pathology; gait


Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: A. E. Minetti, Centre for Biophysical and Clinical Research into Human Movement, Manchester Metropolitan Univ., Hassall Road, ST7 2HL Alsager, UK (E-mail: a.e.minetti{at}mmu.ac.uk).






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