35(Y5) Effect of pelvic morphology on energetic cost of bipedal walking

• Published in: Anthropological Science Vol. 119; no. 3; p. 282
• Main Authors: HAMANO M, OGIHARA N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Anthropological Society of Nippon 2011
• ISSN: 0918-7960

In order to evaluate the effect of human pelvic morphology on energetic cost of locomotion, we estimated energetic cost of bipedal walking based on inverse dynamic calculation. Anatomically-based 3D musculoskeletal models of human and Japanese macaque were used for analyses. Joint motions and ground-reaction-forces from experiments on human walking were input to the models to calculate muscular force. The energetic cost of locomotion was then estimated based on the calculation of mechanical energy generated by muscles. To evaluate the effect of change in pelvic morphology on energetic cost of locomotion, the pelvis of the models was virtually alternated between the two models. Our results demonstrated that the cost of transport of bipedal walking was the lowest in the human model and the highest in the macaque model. However, if the pelvis was altered, the energetic cost of locomotion increased and decreased in the human and macaque models, respectively, indicating that the human pelvic morphology actually contributes to energetic efficiency of bipedal walking because the change in pelvic morphology altered paths of the muscles around the hip joint. The human pelvic morphology may have evolved not only to improve lateral stability, but also to reduce energetic cost of bipedal walking.