ABSTRACT
Objective To illustrate the influences of walking speed and road slope on lower limb motions by quantitative analysis on the changes of joint angles and muscle activation. Method Five walking speeds and three road slopes were selected from slow to fast according to the related measurement. The gaits of 15 young women were measured using the motion capture system and the EMG signals of 8 major muscles in lower limbs were collected simultaneously. The mean joint angles of hip, knee and ankle in sagittal plane at different speeds and different slopes were calculated. The subject whose data was closest to the mean value could be easily found. Results The joint angles of the subject’s hip, knee and ankle in sagittal plane at different speeds and different slopes in a gait cycle were presented and the activation curves of the 8 major muscles during lower limb movements were obtained. Conclusions In each gait cycle, the curves of joint angles and muscle activations varied little with 5 different speeds, while curves for 3 different road slopes only showed similar tendencies but with different peaks.