The purpose of the current experiment was to describe interlimb coordination when swing limb conditions are being manipulated by constraining step length or by adding a 5 or 10 pound weight to the swing limb distally. Subjects were asked to begin walking with the right limb to land on the primary target (normal step length) that is 10 cm in diameter. However, if, during movement, the light was illuminated, then the subject had to step on one of the secondary targets (long and short step length). These three step length conditions were repeated while wearing a 5 pound ankle weight and then when wearing a 10 pound ankle weight. Ground reaction force (GRF) data indicated that there were changes in the forces and slopes of the swing and stance Fx GRFs. Long stepping subjects had to increase the propulsive force required to increase step length. Consequently, swing and stance toe-off greatly increased in the long step length condition. Short step length subjects had to adequately adjust step length, which decreased the speed of gait initiation. Loading the swing limb decreased the force and slope of the swing limb. Swing and stance toe-off was longest for the long step length condition, but there was a small difference of temporal events between no weight and weight condition. It appears that subjects modulated GRFs and temporal events differently to achieve the peak acceleration force of the swing and stance limb in response to different tasks. The findings from the current study provide preliminary data, which can be used to further investigate how we modulate forces during voluntary movement from a quiet stance. This information may be important if we are to use this or a similar task to evaluate gait patterns of the elderly and patient populations.

• Hyeong-dong Kim(Dept. of Physical Therapy, Catholic University of Daegu) Corresponding author
• Bum-chull Yoon(Dept. of Physical Therapy, Korea University)