Abstract
Occupations, such as railroad work, which requires the worker to perform job functions on irregular surfaces are physically taxing. Previous research and epidemiology have suggested a potential link between walking surface characteristics and injury. However, to date few studies have investigated the impact of irregular surfaces, flat or sloped, on gait dynamics. The current study investigated gait dynamics on a sloped irregular surface in twenty healthy adult men. The participants walked along 2 distinct sloped surfaces [No Ballast (NB), and Mainline Ballast (MB)]. Lower body motion, ground reaction forces, and electromyographic (EMG) signals from lower extremity muscles were collected. Three dimensional joint moments were calculated at the hip, knee and ankle during the down slope step on the walking surfaces. Parameters of interest were moment ranges. Results showed joint moment ranges were generally larger for MB compared to that of NB in the down slope leg. The results suggested walking on ballast increases joint moments at the ankle and knee of the down slope leg during walking on an irregular sloped surface.