Alteration in gait characteristics influenced by changes of arm-swing amplitude

This study was intended to reach a better understanding of the contribution of the upper limbs in human gait. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of the upper limbs swing on the ground reaction forces and on the motion of the whole body mass centre during human walking.The measurement of ground reaction forces and recording of trajectories of characteristic body points on subjects was performed at walking at normal speed (0.95 m/s  ; v  ; 1.7 m/s), with natural and emphasised upper limbs swing. The measurements have shown that components of ground reaction forces were influenced by changes in the upper limbs swing during walking. Maximum magnitude of the vertical components of the ground reaction force, aft-force and medial force have been increased for normal speed walking with emphasised upper limbs swing. Considering walking with natural and emphasised upper limbs swing, the displacements of the body centre of mass for the emphasised upper limbs swing have been decreased in lateral and vertical directions and increased in fore-aft direction. It can be concluded that trajectory of the body centre of mass in walking with emphasised upper limbs swing tends to exhibit a decreased curvature and to become closer to a straight line.