Step by step towards more stable walking

During steady-state walking both active foot placement and ankle moment control contribute to mediolateral gait stability. Ankle moment control complements foot placement by correcting foot placement error through center-of-pressure shifts during single stance. This complementary relationship may be exploited to train foot placement control . Ankle moment constraints may promote a gait pattern with a higher degree of foot placement control. Since task constraints can interact with the effects of ankle moment constraints, the mechanisms through which training effects could manifest may differ depending on using a split- or a single-belt treadmill. When older adults trained for multiple sessions, their foot placement precision improved. As they also improved their gait stability, I speculate that the complementary relationship between foot placement and ankle moment control can be exploited to train mediolateral steady-state gait stability.