Modulation of Head Movement Control During Walking

The purpose of this study was to investigate the coordination of the head relative to the trunk within a gait cycle during gaze fixation. Nine normal subjects walked on a motorized treadmill driven at 1.79 m/sec (20 s trials) while fixing their gaze on a centrally located earth-fixed target positioned at a distance of 2m from their eyes. The relative motion of the head and the net torque acting on it relative to the trunk during the gait cycle were used as measures of coordination. It was found that the net torque applied to the head counteracts the destabilizing forces acting on the upper body during locomotion. The average net torque impulse was significantly different (p less than 0.05) between the heel strike and swing phases and were found to be symmetrical between the right and left leg events of the gait cycle. However, the average net displacement of the head relative to the trunk was maintained uniform (p greater than 0.05) throughout the gait cycle. Thus, the coordination of the motion of the head relative to the trunk during walking is dynamically modulated depending on the behavioral events occurring in the gait cycle. This modulation may serve to aid stabilization of the head by counteracting the force variations acting on the upper body that may aid in the visual fixing of targets during walking.