Changing our thinking about walking.

摘要

The act of walking seems so simple when we perform it; we just put one leg in front of the other, and most of us are able to do other things at the same time. Watching children who are learning to walk, however, provides us with some insights into how complicated the whole process is and the tremendous level of sensori-motor integration required for safe walking. For a number of years we have known that infants can step on a moving treadmill belt before they can walk independently (Yang & Gorassini, 2006). Adults with complete spinal cord injuries can also be trained to step on a moving treadmill belt (Yang & Gorassini, 2006) and this has provided some of the strongest evidence to date for the existence of human spinal central pattern generators (Dietz, 2003). However, for over-ground walking a spinal pattern generator does not appear to be sufficient. Supraspinal control is needed to provide both the drive for locomotion as well as the coordination to negotiate a complex environment.