摘要：In order to determine the step length for the maximum walking speed, ten healthy males(mean age, 23.1 years; mean body height, 172.7 cm) were ordered to walk straight 10 m as fast as possible with their conventional (free step), shorter (short step) and longer step lengths(long step). It was found that the maximum walking speed was observed in walking with free step. In addition, for the purpose of examining how changes in the step length affect energy cost during walking, four healthy males (mean age, 29.0 years; mean body height, 173.3 cm) were instructed to walk Treadmill with four different step lengths(30, 60, 70, and 80% of body height) at the speed of 2, 4, and 6 km/h for 3 min. The oxygen consumption for 1 min and the heart rate for 15 sec just after each experiment were recorded. It was also found that the speed became faster during walking with % step length of 30 and 60 %, and that it remained unchanged during walking with % step length of 70 and 80%. The results obtained here indicate that the optimum % step length to induce the maximum walking speed is approximately 70%, and that walking with longer step length requires larger oxygen consumption, which suggests its inefficiency.
