Speeding up or slowing down?: Gait adaptations to preserve gait stability in response to balance perturbations (original) (raw)

This study investigates how individuals adapt their gait in response to balance perturbations to maintain stability. It challenges the common assumption that reducing walking speed is the primary strategy to handle falling risk. Instead, the findings indicate that individuals employ a combination of decreased step length and increased step frequency and width while maintaining walking speed, effectively enhancing their margin of stability (MoS). These adaptations suggest a need for further research on how gait adjustments vary with different types of perturbations.