A Novel Treadmill with a Function of Simulating Walkway-Walking

There are differences between walkway walking and walking on a treadmill. It is considered that these differences are based on the fact that the walking on the treadmill is a passive motion, while the walkway walking is an active motion. The differences in walking between on a floor and on a treadmill are investigated using the electromyograph and on the oral questionnaires from subjects. The obtained knowledge is as follows. (1) The muscular activity of the legs in walking on the treadmill without the tractive force is smaller than that in walking on the floor. (2) The walking on the treadmill with 60% of the tractive force being equivalent to the walkway walking from the rear downward of 30 degrees becomes similar to the usual walking on the floor. This paper proposes a novel treadmill with a function of simulating walkway-walking. The developed treadmill has a walking-load device towing the subject from the rear downward and controlling the walking speed according to the position of subject on the treadmill. The verification experiment of walking on the developed treadmill shows the availability to gait training and rehabilitation.