Background: The effect of external lateral stabilization on medio-lateral gait stability has been investigated previously. However, existing lateral stabilization devices not only constrain lateral motions but also transverse and frontal pelvis rotations. This study aimed to investigate the effect of external lateral stabilization with and without constrained transverse pelvis rotation on mechanical and metabolic gait features. Methods: We undertook two experiments with 11 and 10 young adult subjects, respectively. Kinematic, kinetic and breath-by-breath oxygen consumption data were recorded during three walking conditions (normal walking (Normal), lateral stabilization with (Free) and without transverse pelvis rotation (Restricted)) and at three speeds (0.83, 1.25 and 1.66 m s⁻¹) for each condition. In the second experiment, we reduced the weight of the frame, and allowed for longer habituation time to the stabilized conditions. Results: External lateral stabilization significantly reduced the amplitudes of the transverse and frontal pelvis rotations, in addition to medio-lateral, anterior–posterior, and vertical pelvis displacements, transverse thorax rotation, arm swing, step length and step width. The amplitudes of free vertical moment, anterior–posterior drift over a trial, and energy cost were not significantly influenced by external lateral stabilization. The removal of pelvic rotation restrictions by our experimental set-ups resulted in normal frontal pelvis rotation in Experiment 1 and significantly higher transverse pelvis rotation in Experiment 2, although transverse pelvis rotation still remained significantly less than in the Normal condition. Step length increased with the increased transverse pelvis rotation. Conclusion: Existing lateral stabilization set-ups not only constrain medio-lateral motions (i.e. medio-lateral pelvis displacement) but also constrain other movements such as transverse and frontal pelvis rotations, which leads to several other gait changes such as reduced transverse thorax rotation, and arm swing. Our new set-ups allowed for normal frontal pelvis rotation and more transverse pelvis rotation (yet less than normal). However, this did not result in more normal thorax rotation and arm swing. Hence, to provide medio-lateral support without constraining other gait variables, more elaborate set-ups are needed.

背景：外部横向稳定对内外步态稳定性的影响先前已被研究过。然而，现有的横向稳定装置不仅限制横向运动，而且限制横向和前骨盆旋转。本研究旨在研究有或没有限制骨盆横向旋转的外侧稳定对机械和代谢步态特征的影响。方法：我们分别对 11 名和 10 名年轻成人受试者进行了两项实验。在三种步行条件（正常步行（正常）、侧向稳定（自由）和无骨盆横向旋转（限制））和三种速度（0.83、1.25 和 1.66）下记录运动学、动力学和每次呼吸耗氧量数据ms ^-1 ) 对于每个条件。在第二个实验中，我们减轻了框架的重量，并允许更长的适应稳定条件的时间。结果：除了骨盆中外侧、前后和垂直位移、胸廓横向旋转、手臂摆动、步长和步宽之外，外部侧向稳定还显着降低了骨盆横向和前部旋转的幅度。自由垂直力矩的幅度、试验中的前后漂移以及能量消耗并未受到外部横向稳定的显着影响。我们的实验设置消除了骨盆旋转限制，导致实验 1 中骨盆前部旋转正常，实验 2 中骨盆横向旋转明显更高，尽管骨盆横向旋转仍然明显低于正常情况。步长随着骨盆横向旋转的增加而增加。 结论：现有的横向稳定设置不仅限制了中侧运动（即骨盆中侧位移），而且还限制了其他运动，例如横向和前骨盆旋转，这导致了其他几种步态变化，例如胸部横向旋转减少，和手臂摆动。我们的新设置允许正常的骨盆前向旋转和更多的骨盆横向旋转（但比正常情况要少）。然而，这并没有导致更正常的胸部旋转和手臂摆动。因此，为了提供内侧支撑而不限制其他步态变量，需要更复杂的设置。