Lower limb kinematics of human walking with the medial axis transformation

The paper describes a simple model for free-speed human walking and compares ordinary images of a walking person to the model. Three dimensional kinematic data were obtained from subjects walking with markers over the joints of their limbs. The average of these data was used to derive a model stick figure of the lower limbs, based on the average anthropometric data of the population. Stick figures were obtained from ordinary images of persons dressed in tight fitting clothes without any markers by using the medial axis transformation. The two dimensional information from the image stick figures was compared with the projection of the three dimensional information of the model onto the relevant plane. A high degree of correlation was noted between the rotational patterns of the model and image stick figures.<>