Paper exploring the foot function in human walking accepted in Physical Review E

A human on average walks about five times around the earth during a lifetime - a trait acquired at very early age. The limitations of our understanding of walking dynamics are revealed when we build humanoid robots or remobilize patients with ortheses and prostheses.

Our work ties the peculiar shape, arrangement, and deployment of the human foot to the most basic function of walking - applying forces to the ground which support and propel the human body. Assuming evolutionary pressure to cover long distances, we demonstrate how our flat foot facilitates this efficient and intuitive mode of locomotion.

The proposed physical model reduces the complexity of the foot's motion in walking and thus allows for functional insights concerning the timing and force interplay which expands our mechanical understanding and facilitates the development of improved gait assistive devices and rehabilitation
 techniques.

The article titled "Over the hump -- an exploration of human walking dynamics from the foot's perspective" will be published in Physical Review E shortly.

Contact: Daniel Renjewski