Nonlinear Optics and Quantum Optics, Vol. 39, pp.

177183
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Energy Cost of the Human Walk: Assessment

Methods and Devices
Silvia N. Miu1 , Doina Bucur1 and Georgeta M. Capris2
1 University

Politehnica of Bucharest, Dept. of Precision Mechanics and Mechatronics,

Spl. Independentei no.313, sect. 6, Bucharest, Romania
2 Institute for Research and Development in Fine Mechanics, Bucharest, Romania
E-mail: smiu108@yahoo.com

Human gait on a horizontal plane is characterized by a power expenditure

expressed by both an external power due to the ground reaction forces that
allow the vertical and horizontal movement of the body centre of mass
and an internal power due to the muscular activity. The authors worked
out a new way of assessing the external work of the forward horizontal
ground reaction forces. The sum of these can express the energy cost of
human walk on a horizontal surface. The evaluation of the energy cost
was done by an original software derived by the authors. Comparative
tests were performed on several healthy subjects equipped both with our
device and with the portable device Cosmed K4b. The validation of the
measured values of the healthy subjects vertical ground reaction forces
and their graphical display in time was achieved by comparing these with
those given by the PEDAR-NOVEL equipment.
Keywords: Human gait, energy cost, ground reaction force, kinematic parameters,
plantar pressure.

1 INTRODUCTION
The gait energetic cost is composed by the external power (the power resulted
from the work done by the external forces) and the internal power (resulted
from the work associated to the limbs movement relative to the COM). The
method proposed and the equipment realized in a Romanian CEEX project,
estimate both the external power - by measuring the vertical component of the
ground reaction force and by applying a patented mathematical algorithm and
the internal power (proposed by A.E. Minetti). The method and the equipment

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S. N. Miu et al.

were validated by comparing the experimental results got using the system
PEDAR Novel Germany both with the gait energetic cost measured by us
through indirect calorimetry and with similar results.

2 METHOD
2.1 Assessment of the vertical power P z
The ground reaction forces are Fzi . These forces are measured at different
moments of time ti , and n measurements are done for each step with a 50 Hz
frequency. The vertical speed of the body center of mass changes during a
time gap
t with the value:

Vzi = [(Fzi G)/m]
t

(1)

The value of the initial vertical speed Vz0 :

Vz0 =

n
Vz1 + (n 1)
Vz2 + (n 2)
Vz3 + +
Vzn

n+1

(2)

The power needed by the two legs, left and right, to do the external work
is given by:
Pzsi = Fzsi Vzi ;

Pzdi = Fzdi Vzi

(3)

where Pzsi and Pzdi are the external powers corresponding to the left and right
feet. The external work done by the vertical ground reaction force of each
foot is:
Lzsi = Pzsi
t;

Lzdi = Pzdi
t

(4)

The positive work expresses the work needed to replace the energy lost by
this leg and it is done by the active leg, called as the leading leg. The positive
works done by both left and right leg are as follows:
n=n+
ps

L+
zs =

n=1

L+
zsi

and

L+
zd =

n=n+
pd

L+
zdi

(5)

n=1

+
where L+
zs and Lzd is the positive work done by the left and right leg, as shown
in Figure 1. The total positive work is the sum of these two values of positive
work, calculated with (5). In order to evaluate the power during the measured
gait cycle, the total positive work is going to be divided into the duration of a
step [1].

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FIGURE 1
Positive and negative work of the GRF during three steps of the right leg.

FIGURE 2
Ground reaction forces at the moment of heel strike: A = initial contact point of the left foot;
B = initial COPs, of the left foot; E = initial COPd, of the right foot; D = initial projection
of the COM on the horizontal plane; F = ACF = hip joint; Fs = GRF acting on the left foot;
Fzs = VGRF acting on the left foot; Fys = HGRF acting on the left foot; Fd = GRF acting on
the right foot; Fzd = VGRF acting on the right foot; Fyd = HGRF acting on the right foot.

2.2 Assessment of the rear-anterior power Py

Assumptions: At the initial moment of the double stance, the two hip joints
are at the same high relative to the ground, point F in the Figure 2, the rear
and the anterior leg are perfectly straight, the ground reaction force follows
the line that unites the instantly COP and the knee joint, and DE = Lp /2,
where Lp is the step length, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. The instant angles
of the two legs, expressed in the relationships (6), depend on the leg length L

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S. N. Miu et al.

FIGURE 3
Geometrical model of the posterior foot (Bi Fi ) and anterior foot (Ei Fi ) at a moment ti (double
stace); Left COP (centre of pressure) is in Bi, and right COP is in Ei ; the device measures their
displacements. The hip joint (point Fi ) moves forwardly with the speed vy . The direction of the
ground reaction force during the simple support phase fn1 is the angle between the direction of
the ground reaction force at the beginning of the simple support and the vertical direction; is
the angle between the vertical direction and the direction of the ground reaction force at the end
of the simple support phase.

and the step length Lp .


i = arc tg

Bi Di
Fi Di


= arc tg
= arc tg


i = arc tg

Ei Di
Fi D i


= arc tg
= arc tg

BD + yi (ysi ys1 )
FD + hi
Lp
2

y + yi + ys1 ysi
L cos + hi

(6)

DE yi + (ydi yd1 )
FD + hi
Lp
2

yi + ydi yd1
L cos + hi

(7)

The total rear-anterior ground reaction force is:

fyi = fysi + fyd i = fzsi tg

Lp
2

y + yi + ys1 ysi
fzd i .tgfi
L cos + hi

(8)

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FIGURE 4
The direction of the ground reaction force during the simple support phase Fn1 is the angle
between the direction of the ground reaction force at the beginning of the simple support and the
vertical direction; is the angle between the vertical direction and the direction of the ground
reaction force at the end of the simple support phase.

While only one foot is laid on the ground, the rear-anterior ground reaction
force is:
 
fydj = fzdj tg j
(9)
The power in the rear-anterior direction will be Pyi = fyi Vyi . The work in
the rear-anterior direction during a step is Lyi = Pyi
t. The positive work
in the rear-anterior direction during a step is the sum of all positive works
evaluated during a step:
L+
y total pas

n=n+
p

L+
yi

(10)

n=1

where n+
p the number of ground reaction forces measured when a positive
work is being done.
The power in the rear-anterior direction during a step is:
Pypas =

Ly +

totalpas

tpas

(11)

where tpas is the step duration (s).

3 RESULTS
The mathematical algorithm was verified through comparing the results with
those existing in other similar papers. Table 1 shows the measurements done
with the CALORCRO device and the evaluation of the power at different

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S. N. Miu et al.
Trial no.

Gait parameters
for a test on a
No. treadmill
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

t(s)
Trial duration (s)
Walked distance
(m)
Step number
Mean value of
VGRF [kg]
Pzm [W]
Pym [W]
Pint [W]
Ptot [W]
Ptot/G [W/kg]
Ptot/(G.v)
[W/(kg*m/s)]

v[m/s] Sl[cm] v[m/s] Sl[cm] v[m/s] Sl[cm] v[m/s] Sl[cm]

1,2
62,73
1,2
63,3
1,2
63,55
1,2
63,03
87,1474,34
13,6
16,32

99,6674,34
25,32
30,384

124,15100,32
23,83
28,6

112,4100,32
12,08
14,496

26
71,93

48
71,55

45
70,87

23
70,6

60,1
39,7
64,4
164
2,1
1,75

62,3
40,7
63,8
167
2,14
1,79

65,8
39,4
63,6
169
2,17
1,8

68,3
38,3
64
171
2,19
1,83

TABLE 1
Gait parameters and the power consumed during walking: Pzm [W] the mean enternal
power in the vertical direction, Pym [W] the mean enternal power in the rear-forward
direction, Pint [W] the mean total internal power, Ptot [W] the mean total power
of the gait on a horizontal surface

Gait energy cost evaluated

with ground reaction forces
measured with the PEDAR
Tested subject system [W]
Subject 1
Subject 2

163.9
197.6

Gait energy cost measured

through the indirect
calorimetry method [W]
172.4
180.4

TABLE 2
Comparison between the gait energy expenditure evaluated by the authors and
measured through the indirect calorimetry method

gait speeds of the tested subject walking on a treadmill. A more significant

verification was achieved by simultaneously testing several healthy subjects
equipped both with PEDAR device and with portable device COSMED K4b2
(indirect calorimetry). The results can be seen in Table 2.

4 DISCUTIONS
The main difficulty of the power evaluation was the assessment of the rearanterior ground reaction force, using the vertical ground reaction force, that
can be easily measured either directly with strain gauge sensors (CALORCRO electronic equipment), or through plantar pressure measurements, as the

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183

PEDAR system does. The physical problem in static undetermined, so the

assumptions we made were necessary to solve this problem. A further verification of the mathematical model should be done for the rear-anterior ground
reaction force, using a force platform.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The study has been financially supported from the national research projects
CEEX35-Calorcro and PN41064-Simsano.

REFERENCES
[1] Donelan J. M., Kram R and Kuo A. D. Simultaneous, positive and negative external
mechanical work in human walking. Journal of Biomechanics 35 (2002), 117124.
[2] Minetti A. E. and Saibene F. Mechanical work rate minimization and freely chosen stride
frequency of human walking: a mathematical model. Journal of Experimental Biology 170
(1992), 1934.

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