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Updated: Jul 16, 2026
Substantiating Appropriate Motion Capture Techniques for the Assessment of Nordic Walking Gait and Posture in Older Adults
Published on: May 12, 2016
Simple models highlight differences in the walking biomechanics of young children and adults
Vivian L Rose1, Christopher J Arellano1
1Department of Health and Human Performance, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77024, USA.
Insights
Children aged 5-6 years walk differently than adults, using less leg work during transitions and more limb compliance. This distinct gait mechanics contributes to their higher energy cost of transport (COT).
Area of Science:
- Biomechanics
- Human locomotion
- Developmental kinesiology
Background:
- Adults conserve energy while walking through specific leg mechanics, including minimizing step-to-step transition work and using spring-like mechanisms.
- It remains unclear if young children employ similar energy-saving strategies during locomotion.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how children (5-6 years) and adults modulate mechanical and metabolic demands of walking.
- To compare the leg's mechanical work during step-to-step transitions and its spring-like behavior during single support between children and adults.
Main Methods:
- Quantified mass-specific positive work by the trailing leg during step-to-step transitions.
- Assessed leg spring-like behavior (compliance) during single support.
- Compared these parameters across slow (75%), preferred (100%), and fast (125%) step frequencies in both children and adults.
Main Results:
- Children exhibited a 36% higher net cost of transport (COT) than adults.
- Children generated approximately twofold less trailing limb positive mechanical work during step-to-step transitions compared to adults.
- Young children demonstrated significantly greater stance limb compliance during single support than adults.
Conclusions:
- The gait mechanics of 5-6-year-old children are fundamentally different from those of adults.
- Children's distinct walking mechanics, characterized by reduced transition work and increased limb compliance, likely explain their higher net COT.
- Findings suggest children should not be viewed as scaled-down adults, with implications for designing pediatric assistive devices.
Abstract:
Adults conserve metabolic energy during walking by minimizing the step-to-step transition work performed by the legs during double support and by utilizing spring-like mechanisms in their legs, but little is known as to whether children utilize these same mechanisms. To gain a better understanding, we studied how children (5-6 years) and adults modulate the mechanical and metabolic demands of walking at their preferred speed, across slow (75%), preferred (100%) and fast (125%) step frequencies. We quantified (1) the positive mass-specific work done by the trailing leg during step-to-step transitions and (2) the leg's spring-like behavior during single support. On average, children walked with a 36% greater net cost of transport (COT; J kg-1 m-1) than adults (P=0.03), yet both groups increased their net COT at varying step frequencies. After scaling for speed, children generated ∼2-fold less trailing limb positive scaled mechanical work during the step-to-step transition (P=0.02). Unlike adults, children did not modulate their trailing limb positive work to meet the demands of walking at 75% and 125% of their preferred step frequency. In single support, young children operated their stance limb with much greater compliance than adults ( versus 11.35; P=0.023). Our observations suggest that the mechanics of walking in children aged 5-6 years are fundamentally distinct from the mechanics of walking in adults and may help to explain a child's higher net COT. These insights have implications for the design of assistive devices for children and suggest that children cannot be simply treated as scaled-down versions of adults.
