Abstract
When two fundamental gait parameters—step length and step frequency—are scaled non-dimensionally, thereby accounting for increases in a child's physical size, ontogenetic changes in the locomotor control strategy are revealed. We believe dimensionless velocity β, the product of dimensionless step length and frequency, serves as a measure of neural development. It increases from the age of 18 months and reaches a plateau between 50 and 90 months, attaining the adult value of 0.45. Based on a study of 200 children, our findings lend support to a theory that posits a neuromaturation growth curve with the form: β (t)=0.45 (1−e−0.05t) where t is the age in months and 0.05 is the growth coefficient.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Gerard Deib, Harmen Leskens and Fernando Martinez for their assistance in gathering and analyzing the data. We also acknowledge the financial assistance of The Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council of South Africa, and Stichting Nijmeegs Universiteits Fonds. Christopher Vaughan was an Ernest Walton Fellow, funded by Science Foundation Ireland, when this work was completed.
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Vaughan, C.L., Langerak, N.G. & O'Malley, M.J. Neuromaturation of human locomotion revealed by non-dimensional scaling. Exp Brain Res 153, 123–127 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-003-1635-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-003-1635-x