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Does an instrumented treadmill correctly measure the ground reaction forces?

Since the 1990s, treadmills have been equipped with multi-axis force transducers to measure the three components of the ground reaction forces during walking and running. These measurements are correctly performed if the whole treadmill (including the motor) is mounted on the transducers. In this ca...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Willems, Patrick A., Gosseye, Thierry P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Company of Biologists 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3863428/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24285705
http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.20136379
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author Willems, Patrick A.
Gosseye, Thierry P.
author_facet Willems, Patrick A.
Gosseye, Thierry P.
author_sort Willems, Patrick A.
collection PubMed
description Since the 1990s, treadmills have been equipped with multi-axis force transducers to measure the three components of the ground reaction forces during walking and running. These measurements are correctly performed if the whole treadmill (including the motor) is mounted on the transducers. In this case, the acceleration of the treadmill centre of mass relative to the reference frame of the laboratory is nil. The external forces exerted on one side of the treadmill are thus equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the external forces exerted on the other side. However, uncertainty exists about the accuracy of these measures: due to friction between the belt and the tread-surface, due to the motor pulling the belt, some believe that it is not possible to correctly measure the horizontal components of the forces exerted by the feet on the belt. Here, we propose a simple model of an instrumented treadmill and we demonstrate (1) that the forces exerted by the subject moving on the upper part of the treadmill are accurately transmitted to the transducers placed under it and (2) that all internal forces – including friction – between the parts of the treadmill are cancelling each other.
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spelling pubmed-38634282013-12-16 Does an instrumented treadmill correctly measure the ground reaction forces? Willems, Patrick A. Gosseye, Thierry P. Biol Open Technical Note Since the 1990s, treadmills have been equipped with multi-axis force transducers to measure the three components of the ground reaction forces during walking and running. These measurements are correctly performed if the whole treadmill (including the motor) is mounted on the transducers. In this case, the acceleration of the treadmill centre of mass relative to the reference frame of the laboratory is nil. The external forces exerted on one side of the treadmill are thus equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the external forces exerted on the other side. However, uncertainty exists about the accuracy of these measures: due to friction between the belt and the tread-surface, due to the motor pulling the belt, some believe that it is not possible to correctly measure the horizontal components of the forces exerted by the feet on the belt. Here, we propose a simple model of an instrumented treadmill and we demonstrate (1) that the forces exerted by the subject moving on the upper part of the treadmill are accurately transmitted to the transducers placed under it and (2) that all internal forces – including friction – between the parts of the treadmill are cancelling each other. The Company of Biologists 2013-11-06 /pmc/articles/PMC3863428/ /pubmed/24285705 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.20136379 Text en © 2013. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
spellingShingle Technical Note
Willems, Patrick A.
Gosseye, Thierry P.
Does an instrumented treadmill correctly measure the ground reaction forces?
title Does an instrumented treadmill correctly measure the ground reaction forces?
title_full Does an instrumented treadmill correctly measure the ground reaction forces?
title_fullStr Does an instrumented treadmill correctly measure the ground reaction forces?
title_full_unstemmed Does an instrumented treadmill correctly measure the ground reaction forces?
title_short Does an instrumented treadmill correctly measure the ground reaction forces?
title_sort does an instrumented treadmill correctly measure the ground reaction forces?
topic Technical Note
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3863428/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24285705
http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.20136379
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