Isokinetic Cycling and Elliptical Stepping: A Kinematic and Muscle Activation Analysis

Background: Semi-recumbent cycling exercise has been used as a strategy to complement gait retraining in individuals with disordered walking ability. However, seated elliptical stepping might be a more potent exercise modality for this purpose. Yet, there has not been a kinematic analysis of elliptical stepping exercise, whereby the movement path is produced by a slider-crank mechanism. This study compared the kinematic and leg muscle activation patterns of two isokinetic exercise modalities – cycling and elliptical stepping. Methods: Electromyographic and kinematic signals were collected from twelve healthy able-bodied subjects who performed steady-state seated cycling and stepping exercise. Leg joint excursions of both exercise modes were analysed using 3-D motion analysis. Electromyographic analyses of 10 leg muscles were performed to analyse activation duration and volume (EMG amplitude by time). Results: Kinematic analyses indicated that the elliptical stepping movement created significantly greater hip and knee extension compared to cycling. The ankle joint angles were significantly closer to neutral, with larger ranges of motion during elliptical stepping. EMG descriptors revealed that elliptical stepping elicited greater muscle activation than cycling (9% more volume, 54% longer duration), particularly for the vastii (94% more volume, 150% longer duration) and ankle dorsiflexor muscles (141% longer time) without affecting other muscles’ activation periods. Conclusion: These findings support the efficacy of seated elliptical stepping exercise over cycling for lower-limb training. More potent gait rehabilitation for the neurologically-compromised population might be achieved via seated isokinetic elliptical stepping, since leg movements closer to walking can be executed in a safe environment.

[1]  A L Hof,et al.  Detection of non-standard EMG profiles in walking. , 2005, Gait & posture.

[2]  Shuji Suzuki,et al.  EMG activity and kinematics of human cycling movements at different constant velocities , 1982, Brain Research.

[3]  R. Neptune,et al.  The effect of pedaling rate on coordination in cycling. , 1997, Journal of biomechanics.

[4]  Robert J Gregor,et al.  Lower extremity general muscle moment patterns in healthy individuals during recumbent cycling. , 2002, Clinical biomechanics.

[5]  P Lugner,et al.  Cycling by means of functional electrical stimulation. , 2000, IEEE transactions on rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

[6]  Michael Damsgaard,et al.  Design optimization of a pedaling mechanism for paraplegics , 2004 .

[7]  R.D. Trumbower,et al.  Improving pedal power during semireclined leg cycling , 2004, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine.

[8]  Yasuo Yoshizawa,et al.  Kinematic and Static Analyses of the Pedaling by Means of New Slider-Crank Mechanism , 2007 .

[9]  Philip Rowe,et al.  Functional Human Movement: Measurement and Analysis , 1999 .

[10]  K. Mileva,et al.  Neuromuscular and biomechanical coupling in human cycling , 2003, Experimental Brain Research.

[11]  R. Gregor,et al.  EMG profiles of lower extremity muscles during cycling at constant workload and cadence. , 1992, Journal of electromyography and kinesiology : official journal of the International Society of Electrophysiological Kinesiology.

[12]  W. Bertucci,et al.  Muscular activity level during pedalling is not affected by crank inertial load , 2005, European Journal of Applied Physiology.

[13]  J. F. Yang,et al.  Surface EMG profiles during different walking cadences in humans. , 1985, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[14]  Glen M. Davis,et al.  Development of an isokinetic FES leg stepping trainer (iFES-LST) for individuals with neurological disability , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics.

[15]  R R Neptune,et al.  Adaptation of muscle coordination to altered task mechanics during steady-state cycling. , 2000, Journal of biomechanics.

[16]  Margit Gföhler,et al.  Consequences of ankle joint fixation on FES cycling power output: a simulation study. , 2005, Medicine and science in sports and exercise.

[17]  D. Winter,et al.  EMG profiles during normal human walking: stride-to-stride and inter-subject variability. , 1987, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[18]  R. Gregor,et al.  Knee kinetics during functional electrical stimulation induced cycling in subjects with spinal cord injury: a preliminary study. , 1999, Journal of rehabilitation research and development.

[19]  G E Caldwell,et al.  Muscle coordination in cycling: effect of surface incline and posture. , 1998, Journal of applied physiology.

[20]  P. Lugner,et al.  Dynamic simulation of FES-cycling: influence of individual parameters , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.

[21]  Y. Jammes,et al.  Interindividual variability of surface EMG changes during cycling exercise in healthy humans. , 2001, Clinical physiology.

[22]  Kuohsiang Chen,et al.  An improved design of home cycling system via functional electrical stimulation for paraplegics , 2004 .

[23]  G. Courtine,et al.  Human walking along a curved path. II. Gait features and EMG patterns , 2003, The European journal of neuroscience.

[24]  Richard R Neptune,et al.  Biomechanics and muscle coordination of human walking. Part I: introduction to concepts, power transfer, dynamics and simulations. , 2002, Gait & posture.

[25]  O. von Stryk,et al.  Efficient forward dynamics simulation and optimization of human body dynamics , 2006 .

[26]  J B King,et al.  Gait Analysis. An Introduction , 1992 .

[27]  T. Angeli,et al.  Test bed with force-measuring crank for static and dynamic investigations on cycling by means of functional electrical stimulation , 2001, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.