Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2013

Abstract

Objectives: Load carrying tasks are recognized as one of the primary occupational factors leading to slip and fall injuries. Nevertheless, the mechanisms associated with load carrying and walking stability remain illusive. The objective of the current study was to apply local dynamic stability measure in walking while carrying a load, and to investigate the possible adaptive gait stability changes.

Methods: Current study involved 25 young adults in a biomechanics research laboratory. One tri-axial accelerometer was used to measure three-dimensional low back acceleration during continuous treadmill walking. Local dynamic stability was quantified by the maximum Lyapunov exponent (maxLE) from a nonlinear dynamics approach.

Results: Long term maxLE was found to be significant higher under load condition than no-load condition in all three reference axes, indicating the declined local dynamic stability associated with load carrying.

Conclusion: Current study confirmed the sensitivity of local dynamic stability measure in load carrying situation. It was concluded that load carrying tasks were associated with declined local dynamic stability, which may result in increased risk of fall accident. This finding has implications in preventing fall accidents associated with occupational load carrying.

Comments

The copy of record is available from the publisher at http://dx.doi.org/10.5491/SHAW.2013.4.1.46. Copyright © 2013 by Safety and Health at Work (SH@W). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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