Gait (human)

This is an article on human gaits, for other meanings see: gait (disambiguation).

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Gait is the way locomotion is achieved using human limbs. For this article different gaits require not changes in the geometry of motion but changes in the contact with the ground.

The main human gaits are:

• Crawl
• Walk
• Run

Secondary gaits are:

• Bear Crawl
• Hop
• Skip
• Hobble
• Side-Step

Tertiary gaits, or gaits that are only used by specific populations:

• Leopard Crawl
• Tiger Crawl
• Knee-Walk

Quadruary gaits, or gaits that have no practical aspect or are typically done by mistake only:

• Bear Walk

There are of course many variations of each.

Contents

1 Crawls 1.1 Crawl 1.2 Bear Crawl 1.3 Leopard Crawl 1.4 Tiger Crawl 2 Walks 2.1 Walk 2.2 March 2.3 Speed Walking 2.4 Backpedal 2.5 Carry 2.6 Ghost Walk 2.7 Stalk or Prowl 2.8 Bear Walk 2.9 Shuffle 3 Runs 3.1 Run 3.2 Jog 3.3 Sprint 3.4 Air Borne Shuffle 4 Other 4.1 Hop 4.2 Skip 4.3 Hobble 4.4 Side-Step

Crawls

Crawl can refer to the specific gait, (Crawl,) or to any gait involving the arms along with the legs.

Crawl

as the specific gait involves the hands and knees, and is a 4-beat gait. A typical version is L-hand, R-Knee, R-Hand, L-Knee, or a hand, the diagonal knee, the other hand then its diagonal knee. This is the first gait most humans learn and is really only practical during early childhood or when looking for something on the floor or under low relief. It can be used to move with a lower silouette, but there are better crawls for that purpose. This is the most natural of the crawls and is the one that requires the least effort.

Bear Crawl

is almost identical to the regular crawl but the feet are used instead of the knees, which creates an arched or squatted body posture. This works as a faster crawl but requires more effort to maintain.

Leopard Crawl

is a military specific crawl. There are two versions, the leopard crawl proper and a modified version for when carrying weapons in the hands. This is a 2-beat gait where an arm/elbow is advanced with the diagonal knee. This is designed for the smallest silouette possible, and the body is often nearly or actually touching the ground, and although the elbow and knee are the main focus, most of the respective limbs touch the ground.

Tiger Crawl

is essentially a highly accelerated combination between crawl and leopard crawl. It uses the hands and the knees/feet depending upon the situation, while maintaining a silouette almost as small as that of the leopard crawl. This is relatively fast gait but can take large amounts of energy.

Walks

Like crawl, walk can refer to a specific gait, (Walk,) or to many gaits involving involving 2-beat, bipedal locomotion where one foot is always touching the ground.

Walk

is the most common human gait. It involves one foot placed foward with the second placed the same distance beyond the first. It can provide good move speeds with relatively little energy input and low (typically minimum,) strain on the body.

March

is the second most useful of the gaits or sub-gait for locomotion, although it is typically only used by the military. It is a sub-gait because it is in essence walking. The main differences are that side-to-side motion in virtually removed and the weight is placed on the leading foot, rather than equidistant between the two, as in walk. This produces a highly efficient, high speed walk which is far more energy efficient than running and can produce 2x to 4x a typical walk's speed.

Speed Walking

is a modified walk where the leg must be straight as it passes below the hip, which is not a requirement for marching. This is mainly because a march will often cause a person to overstep, and that marching is but slightly off of running and would be extremely difficult to tell the difference in a race.

Backpedal

is simply a walk in the opposite direction.

Carry

is simply a walk where the body is shifted forward so that the centre of mass remains either equidistant, (Carry-Walk,) or on the front foot, (Carry-March.) This is for when carrying weight on the back.

Ghost Walk

is a walk designed for maximum quiet. This is the quietest of all ways of moving on land. A regular walk has the heel landing first then the flat (with the body's weight,) then a push off from the toes. Ghost Walk has the heel landing first, followed by the outerridge and then a push off from the toe. The weight is distributed during the entire movement, rather than suddenly.

Stalk or Prowl

is essentially a walk while in a full squat. This is designed to be a walk that maintains a low profile. A good soldier can keep the profile as low as a regular crawl.\

Bear Walk

is the only non-practical walk. It is essentially a walk or a march (bear march,) where the arms are brought up with the leg rather than against it. If it is done on purpose it is done solely because it looks awkward and unituitive.

Shuffle

is a sub-gait of walk where if the feet are brought off the ground it is done so much as necessary.

Runs

Run

is nearly identical to walk or march except that the person is actually airborne once each beat. This is the chief high-speed gait of humans. The beats happen faster and the distance travelled per-beat is also much higher. This requires a lot more energy than walking.

Jog

is a sub-gait of run where the pace is much less and the legs nearly never go out of the body's centreline.

Sprint

is essentially to run what march is to walk. The speed is much greater and the weight is put on top of or even beyond the front foot. This can quickly deplete all of the anaerobic energy the person has stored.

Air Borne Shuffle

is essentially haftway between march and jog, where the feet are pulled just off the ground. This is to provide a middle ground between marching and jogging.

Other

Hop

is a single-beat gait one either one or two feet. One foot hops are practical when a limb is no longer useable, (break.) The only practical use of two-foot hops is to prevent potential differences around downed high-voltage wires.

Skip

is either a 3-beat or 6-beat gait where a foot is repeated (i.e. L,L,R, R,R,L, L,L,R,L,R,R, etc. but there are many variations there of: L,L,R,R, etc.) It is typically considered an expression of giddiness, but it can be used in the place of run when one limb is injured but can still be used, (mild sprain.)

Hobble

is a 2-beat gait similar to walk except that one of the paces is significantly shorter than the other. This is done to favour a non-injured limb.

Side-Step

is a 2-beat gait where one foot is moved to the side and the other is brought to meet (rather than pass,) it. This is used for moving sideways.

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In the military there are various standard paces:

• Quick March: The basic mobility. 120-beats/min, 30" pace.
• Double March: The basic run. 240-beats/min.
• Highland March: Regiment specific pace, 80-beats/min. Used when wearing kilts, (for obvious reasons if you have ever proprely worn a kilt.)
• Rifle March: Regiment specific pace, 180-beats/min.
• Slow March: Ceremonial pace, 40-60 beats/min.

There are various other requirements for marching (excluding 2x-time.) The British and her Commonwealth bring their arms chest-pocket high. Eastern-block often have the leg being kept strait on the forward pace. These actually aid maintaining the speed and increase the efficientcy for long range travel.