Insights from foot placement and centripetal accelerations during turning

The ability to change heading direction while walking is an important component of everyday mobility. During turning the movement of the body’s centre of mass must be redirected towards the new walking direction. The aim of this study is to experimentally test the proposition that turning is controlled by changes in the lateral foot placement relative to the velocity-adjusted (extrapolated) position of the centre of mass. Experimental data of ten healthy subjects performing a series of turns at different angles show that turning is achieved by a change in lateral foot placement proportional to the centripetal accelerations needed for a given change in heading direction.