Collaborative Research: Effects of Speed and Body Size on the Partitioning of Energy use among the Locomotor Muscles in Bipedal Running.

合作研究：速度和体型对两足跑运动肌肉能量分配的影响东北大学和加州州立大学波莫纳分校理查德·L·马什和史蒂文·威克勒运动力学和能量学随着速度和体型的变化在提出关于跑步和步行的经济决定因素的假说方面发挥了重要作用。然而，过去的研究一直受到阻碍，因为不知道动物新陈代谢能量的使用是如何在运动过程中活跃的个别肌肉之间分配的。这项拟议的工作将使用肌肉血流量来估计不同大小的两足鸟在行走和跑步过程中使用的所有肌肉的能量消耗。单个肌肉的能量消耗将与生物力学的几个方面相关，以检验力学和能量学如何相关的假说，包括挥杆和站立之间的能量分配，肌肉产生力量的成本，以及弹性肌腱中能量的储存。研究人员预测，这项工作将对理解动物和人类行走和跑步的力学和能量学产生重大影响。拟议的研究应该提供重要的数据，可以用来修改现有的腿部运动能量学模型，或制定新的模型。由于腿部运动的经济性和基本力学似乎在包括人类在内的各种动物身上具有许多共同特征，因此该项目的结果有望得到广泛应用。除了提高我们对行走和跑步的生物力学和能量学的理解外，该项目的结果还将对人类健康产生潜在的影响。推广是可能的，因为动物和人类的运动共享相同的基本生物力学问题和限制。由于许多类型的侵入性研究不能在人类身上进行，因此通常根据模型来预测肌肉在人类运动中的功能，这些模型使用外部可观察到的运动和在人类运动中测量的力，结合来自动物研究的信息来定义运动系统的基本特性。这项研究应该为检验人体研究中使用的模型类型的有效性提供一个重要的基准。由于这些模型也被用来为运动功能受损的个人开发康复策略，因此导致改进模型的信息具有改进这些策略的潜力。这两个机构在这一项目上的合作记录还表明，这笔资金将对妇女和少数族裔研究生和本科生的科学培训产生重大的积极影响。

Collaborative Research: Effects of speed and body size on the partitioning of energy use among the locomotor muscles in bipedal runningRichard L. Marsh and Steven WicklerNortheastern University and Cal State Poly University PomonaVariation in locomotor mechanics and energetics with speed and body size has had a prominent role in formulating hypotheses regarding the determinants of the economy of running and walking. However, past studies have been hampered by not knowing how the metabolic energy use by the animal is partitioned among the individual muscles that are active during locomotion. The proposed work will use muscle blood flow to estimate the energy use by all the muscles used during walking and running in bipedal birds of different size. The energy consumption by individual muscles will be related to several aspects of the biomechanics to test hypotheses about how the mechanics and energetics are related, including the partitioning of energy use between swing and stance, the cost of force production by the muscles, and storage of energy in elastic tendons. The researchers predict that this work will have a substantial impact on understanding of the mechanics and energetics of walking and running in animals and humans. The proposed studies should contribute important data that can be used to modify existing models of the energetics of legged locomotion, or to formulate new models. Because the economy and basic mechanics of legged locomotion appear to share many features across a diverse array of animals, including humans, the results of this project are expected to be broadly applicable. In addition to improving our understanding of the biomechanics and energetics of walking and running, the results of this project will have potential implications for human health. Generalization is possible because animal and human locomotion share the same fundamental biomechanical problems and constraints. Because many types of invasive studies cannot be done on humans, the function of muscles in human locomotion is often predicted based on models using externally observable movements and forces measured in human locomotion combined with information from animal studies defining the basic properties of the locomotor system. This study should provide a significant benchmark for testing the validity of the types of models used in human studies. Because these models are also used to develop rehabilitative strategies for individuals with compromised locomotor function, information that results in improving the models has the potential to improve these strategies. The records of the two institutions collaborating on this project also indicate that the funding will have a significant positive impact on the scientific training of women and minority graduate and undergraduate students.