Energetic Consequences of Walking Like an Inverted Pendulum: Step-to-Step Transitions

In Brief Walking like an inverted pendulum reduces muscle-force and work demands during single support, but it also unavoidably requires mechanical work to redirect the body’s center of mass in the transition between steps, when one pendular motion is substituted by the next. Production of this work exacts a proportional metabolic cost that is a major determinant of the overall cost of walking. Walking resembles an inverted pendulum, but requires mechanical work for the transition between steps, costing metabolic energy.

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• NI
  National Institutes of Health