Body Responses of Beginning Walkers to An Obstacle During
Locomotion
Ying Song
Montgomery Blair High School
313 Wayne Ave.
Silver Spring, Maryland
20910
ABSTRACT
The body responses of beginning walkers to an obstacle during locomotion
was studied. Beginning walkers were studied first when the infant had
gained three months of walking experience and again when the infant had
gained six months of walking experience. The obstacle used was twice the
height of the subjects normal toe clearance. The subjects were filmed and
the video tapes were digitized. The data were then processed using a
program written by the researcher. Angular velocity and angular position
were calculated for fourteen angles of the body. For the beginning
walkers with three months of walking experience, it was found that the
thigh of the leading limb was lifted higher and the shank lifted lower off
the ground relative to the trailing limb. The beginning walkers did not
utilize their upper extremities for balance until they had gained six
months of walking experience. When they had gained six months of walking
experience the beginning walkers lifted their arms high up in the frontal
plane. This was due to their gain in experience. They were able to
unfreeze and gain degrees of freedom.
Walt Houser CPCUG
Coordinator.
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