video of an ideal pathology-free gait please

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G'day all, I'd really appreciate being able to view a treadmill video (posterior and lateral view preferably) of a walking (and if possible running) subject whose 'biomechanics' should be as 'ideal' as possible, a gait pattern that should not cause undue stresses to its components. If there is already one on the forum would Admin 1 or 2 please refer me to same, thanks, mark

 

That actually sounds like a video I'd like to see as well, and publish on my own website or reference on Youtube, with permission.

 

Mark, "ideal biomechanics", that's a tough one! I think walking is harder than running. For running (actually sprinting) check out Bolt's world records, you should get several views. My rationale being he's the fastest man on the planet, therefore his biomechanics must have been as near to ideal for flat out speed as anyone's have ever been at that time. You can do the same with all the world record holders in track and field, by definition they are achieving the best jump, run, throw or whatever that the human race can, therefore their biomechanics at that time must have been as near to "ideal" for that event as we have achieved.

 

Mark:

That would be a good video and not that hard to produce for walking and running. However, it would be dependent on who is considering what structure/fundtion is "ideal". I also don't think necessarily that just because someone is the fastest runner in the world, either in the sprints or the distances, that they would necessarily also be considered to have ideal function since many great runners from the past, such as Emil Zatopek, had quite odd gait patterns but were very fast regardless.

 

I was hoping someone did have one, though I realise why would there be as we deal with 'abnormal' biomechanics.
I was hoping, when i said that the "biomechanics were considered 'ideal'", that it was considered 'ideal' by the 'elite' of the podiatric biomechanical fraternity.
I also realise if there was one 'out there' that the 'owner' might be reluctant to post it lest be open to the critiques of other posters.
Still hoping and thanks in advance to any offers, mark

 

I have to agree with Kevin with respect to running style- certainly with distance running at least.
While Keninisa Bekele (WR 5000, 10 000) has a lovely running style, there are many that are close to him that do not. I look after one Kenyan Qatari who is a sub 12:50 5000m runner who is renowned for his awkward running style, and I know his biomechanics are far from what you would call ideal. This is not an isolated case.
I used to do a little bit of work with a running coach in Melbourne who was a a big believer in the role of running technique in both speed and injury prevention. He used Eliud Kipchoge (former world champ in the 5000m) as an example of excellent form, especially as he held it in the final sprint...

 

The ideal gait for a given task should provide as near to 100% efficiency as possible. To measure the performance of a gait strategy, we need to find its efficiency, which is defined as:

mechanical efficiency = Wout / Win
where:

Win = the input work
Wout = the output work

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_efficiency
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_(physics)

While the gait's of certain runners may appear to the eye as "awkward" they may well be highly "efficient". Indeed, I firmly believe that the body is programmed to adopt the most efficient gait it can with what it has got to work with for a given environment and task.

 

Thats exactily what most of the best sprint coaches are saying now, They don´t try to get people to run a certain way they just modify to get the most efficient technique for that 1 person.

They do say the Powell has the best running technique to look at even though Gay and Bolt have run faster but no man has run under 10.00 for the 100m more times than Powell something like 52 I think.