Gait adaptation on surfaces with different degrees of slipperiness

- Gait adaptation is important to avoid a slip when transitioning to a slippery surface.
- Subjects walked on 15 surfaces with various friction coefficients (COF) for 5 trials.
- Similar gait for medium and high COF surfaces; more adjustment for low COF surfaces.
- Trial 1 was significantly different from other trials for most dependent variables.
- Gait adaptation continued beyond the first trial.

Gait adaptation to employ different ways to avoid a potential slip is needed to continue walking safely on a new surface, especially when transitioning to a slippery surface. In this experiment, participants walked back and forth five times (trials) on surfaces with different degrees of slipperiness. The results show that trial 1 was significantly different from other trials for most of the dependent variables, especially for the low and high friction conditions. Kinematics on high and medium friction surfaces were very similar, but more adjustments were needed for low friction surfaces. The data for the first trial reflect gait after walking for 2.4 m on the walkway, not the first step onto the walkway. The current data show that gait adaptation continued beyond the first trial. Since participants in this experiment were aware of the floor conditions, the results could have important safety implications that user awareness alone might be insufficient for safe floor designs.