| Summary: | Our walking patterns must be adjusted continuously in everyday living, whether for maneuvering on slippery surfaces or stepping over cracks on the street. Walking becomes more challenging as it requires more energy to lift and accelerate the body due to additional loads on the body as we move through space. This dissertation investigates gait, stability, and adaptation in adults with range of adiposity. First, we studied how people with obesity adapt to spatial (obstacle crossing) and temporal (metronome walking) task constraints during walking over-ground. Results indicated that people prioritized a spatial over temporal constraint when attempting to meet both constraints at the same time. Second, we tested how massive weight loss affects gait and stability. We measured how bariatric surgery patients walked and crossed obstacles before and one year after surgery. Findings indicated that massive weight loss improved not only gait but also postural stability during gait. Third, we quantified whole-body rotational characteristics in adults with obesity through changes in angular momentum quantities during steady-state walking. I found that angular momentum (1) was greater in adults with higher BMI, (2) was highly regulated by foot placement, and (3) did not change with walking speed. Taken together these results suggest that gait and stability can be adapted. These findings may help to develop interventions to target specific walking deficits in patients with mobility limitations such as obesity.
|
|---|
