Comparison of Motion Analysis and Energy Expenditures between Treadmill and Overground Walking

Abstract

In this study, treadmill walking and overground walking were compared at the same condition based on kinematics and energy expenditures (EE). In addition, we compared the actual energy expenditure and calculated EE by treadmill. The kinematics of treadmill and overground gait were very similar. The values at each joint were significantly different(p<0.05), but magnitude of the difference was generally less than 3°. EE of treadmill walking was significantly greater when measured on the overground. It seemed to be the increased stress during the gait by the continuous movement of the belt. As the velocity increased, there was significant difference between actual EE and calculated EE by treadmill due to EE curve increasing exponentially. Therefore the further study would be required to find the correlation of the two methods and calibrate the values from them. © 2009 International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering.