Humans trade off whole-body energy cost to avoid overburdening muscles while walking

被引:26
作者
McDonald, Kirsty A. [1 ,2 ,3 ]
Cusumano, Joseph P. [4 ]
Hieronymi, Andrew [5 ]
Rubenson, Jonas [2 ,3 ,6 ]
机构
[1] Univ New South Wales, Sch Hlth Sci, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
[2] Univ Western Australia, Sch Human Sci, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
[3] Penn State Univ, Dept Kinesiol, Biomech Lab, University Pk, PA 16802 USA
[4] Penn State Univ, Dept Engn Sci & Mech, University Pk, PA 16802 USA
[5] Penn State Univ, Sch Visual Arts, University Pk, PA 16802 USA
[6] Penn State Univ, Huck Inst Life Sci, Integrat & Biomed Physiol, University Pk, PA 16802 USA
关键词
cost of transport; energetics; fatigue; locomotion; muscle effort; optimality; METABOLIC COST; STRIDE FREQUENCY; MECHANICAL POWER; PREFERRED SPEED; OPTIMIZATION; STABILITY; TRANSITION; ENDURANCE; FORCE; GAIT;
D O I
10.1098/rspb.2022.1189
中图分类号
Q [生物科学];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
Metabolic cost minimization is thought to underscore the neural control of locomotion. Yet, avoiding high muscle activation, a cause of fatigue, often outperforms energy minimization in computational predictions of human gait. Discerning the relative importance of these criteria in human walking has proved elusive, in part, because they have not been empirically decoupled. Here, we explicitly decouple whole-body metabolic cost and 'fatigue-like' muscle activation costs (estimated from electromyography) by pitting them against one another using two distinct gait tasks. When experiencing these competing costs, participants (n = 10) chose the task that avoided overburdening muscles (fatigue avoidance) at the expense of higher metabolic power (p < 0.05). Muscle volume-normalized activation more closely models energy use and was also minimized by the participants' decision (p < 0.05), demonstrating that muscle activation was, at best, an inaccurate signal for metabolic energy. Energy minimization was only observed when there was no adverse effect on muscle activation costs. By decoupling whole-body metabolic and muscle activation costs, we provide among the first empirical evidence of humans embracing non-energetic optimality in favour of a clearly defined neuromuscular objective. This finding indicates that local muscle fatigue and effort may well be key factors dictating human walking behaviour and its evolution.
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页数:12
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