Ankle Torque During Mid-Stance Does Not Lower Energy Requirements of Steady Gaits

TL;DR

This study uses a simulation model to examine if ankle torques during mid-stance can reduce locomotion energy costs, finding limited benefits outside specific gait transitions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that ankle torques during mid-stance generally do not lower energetic costs, highlighting their limited role in steady gait efficiency.

Findings

Ankle torques do not significantly affect cost of transport in most gaits.

Benefits are observed only during the transition from grounded to aerial running.

Mid-stance ankle torque application is not broadly advantageous for steady gait energy reduction.

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate whether applying ankle torques during mid-stance can be a more effective way to reduce energetic cost of locomotion than actuating leg length alone. Ankles are useful in human gaits for many reasons including static balancing. In this work, we specifically avoid the heel-strike and toe-off benefits to investigate whether the progression of the center of pressure from heel-to-toe during mid-stance, or some other approach, is beneficial in and of itself. We use an "Ankle Actuated Spring Loaded Inverted Pendulum" model to simulate the shifting center of pressure dynamics, and trajectory optimization is applied to find limit cycles that minimize cost of transport. The results show that, for the vast majority of gaits, ankle torques do not affect cost of transport. Ankles reduce the cost of transport during a narrow band of gaits at the transition from grounded running to aerial running. This suggests that applying ankle torque during mid-stance of a steady gait is not a directly beneficial strategy, but is most likely a path between beneficial heel-strikes and toe-offs.