Characteristics of Gait in Restricted Vertical Space Versus Unrestricted Walking

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gallagher S ; Pollard J ; Porter, William L.
• Description:
  Upright walking is not a viable gait option in work environments that have restricted vertical space, such as underground low-seam coal mines (< 1.2 m vertical height). In such circumstances, stoopwalking and crawling must be used. The objective of the current manuscript is to assess the difference between free cadence walking versus stoopwalking (under a 1.2 m ceiling), four-point crawling (hands and knees), and two-point crawling (knees only), both with and without kneepads. Compared to upright walking, stoopwalking resulted in a 24% reduction in gait velocity and exhibited reduced stride length (1.04 versus 1.51 meters). Four-point crawling further slowed gait (to 0.50 m/s) and showed evidence of both trot-like and pace-like interlimb coordination patterns. Gait speed for two-point crawling was only 0.32 m/s. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Mining Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Coal-miners Coal-mining Miners Mining-industry Posture Underground-miners Underground-mining
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISBN:
  9780945289371
• ISSN:
  1071-1813
• Publisher:
  Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OMSHR - Office of Mine Safety and Health Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  54
• Issue:
  15
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20037784
• Citation:
  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 54th Annual Meeting, September 27-October 1, 2010, San Francisco, California. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2010 Sep; 54(15):1149-1153
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• NORA Priority Area:
  Mining ; Construction
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 54th Annual Meeting, September 27-October 1, 2010, San Francisco, California
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5a9c87c7f1e0c5bdd6c13884f6415492cb1af8c921675224abcada94ec8098db60d994ee317978405ac3dc95ce8be19824d51955a30db708964b17dccadddbde
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227270/cdc_227270_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 778.53 KB ]