Can muscles tune foot stiffness to enhance efficiency of human locomotion?

该项目旨在了解肌肉在支撑足弓方面可能起到的关键作用，并确定这是否提高了人类行走和跑步的效率。众所周知，人类的脚在行走和跑步时就像弹簧一样储存和返回能量。该项目假设，这种功能是通过脚内肌肉的作用来增强的，这些肌肉作用于调节脚部的僵硬，并最大化力量产生的效率。探索人类运动过程中脚部僵硬是如何控制的，有望提高我们对人类行走和跑步进化的理解，并有助于改进现代鞋类的设计。

This project aims to understand the key role that muscles might play in supporting the arch of the foot and determine if this improves the efficiency of human walking and running. The human foot is known to act like a spring to store and return energy during walking and running. The project hypothesises that this function is enhanced by muscular contributions within the foot that act to tune the stiffness of the foot and maximise efficiency of force production. Exploration of how foot stiffness is controlled during human movement is expected to improve our understanding of the evolution of human walking and running and contribute to improving the design of modern footwear.