Category - Stance and Gait Mechanics

Focus on understanding and improving movement through anatomy, physiology, and technology like the Sprike App. It covers posture, reflex integration, ergonomic shoe design, and the effects of gravity, aiming to optimize human movement for health and efficiency.

Reference Frames for Stance and Gait

Our normal perception of our surroundings, especially in developed countries, is that we move about inside a spatial cube, a box with length, breadth, and height. This perception is reinforced by the machined flat surfaces upon which we engage...

The Structural Interface Between the...

INTRODUCTION Side View of Sternum Our arms compressionally connect to the rest of our bodies at the joint between our Clavicle and Sternum (not at the shoulders). The Sternum is an assemblage of three bones, the topmost called the Manubrium...

The Foot: Functional Roles from Structure

When we think of feet we usually consider them as an integrated whole – the foot, which we put in a shoe. However, this is misleading as there are multiple functions within the foot, that are perhaps underutilized when wearing footwear...

Outsole: A Functionally Supportive Insole...

ORTHOTIC FOOTWEARThe orthotic footwear industry, encompassing products like orthopedic shoes and foot orthotic insoles, represents a significant market with considerable growth projections: Orthopedic Footwear Market: As of 2022, the orthopedic...

A Comprehensive Description of Optimal Gait

There are multiple, conflicting descriptions of “normal” human gait. Describing gait in other animals is straightforward, as their movement patterns are finely honed stimulus/response patterns well integrated with their environment...

Shoeless

While deeply embedded within our built surroundings, it is challenging for us to understand the movement dynamics of our hunter/gatherer ancestors. A recent discovery in White Sands National Park of ancient footprints, perhaps 23,000 years old...

Evaluating How We Interact with Gravity

Our reflexes, qualities of the tensile fabric of our connective tissue matrix, muscle strength, and conceptual framework influence how we move. Our characteristics of movement can be captured with Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) in the three...

Misperception of the Gravitational Effect is...

The model of the gravitational force we employ, as we move about, is deeply embedded within our social construct. This model can be described thus: “Gravity pulls us downward and we have to push ourselves upward against this force to move...

The Role of Posture in Movement

This research reveals that movement is an extension of neurological organization based primarily on head position relative to the body. It validates long held theories, thereby adding confidence to our understanding that movement is an...

How Muscles Work

A casual examination of the control of muscle function would lead one to the concept of this control as a switch - you turn on or off the specific function. However, the actual electrical control of muscle action is quite a bit more interesting.