Open Access

Markus Hipper, Luca Braun, Yannick Denis, Bastian Anedda, Janina Helwig, Carlo von Diecken, Steffen Willwacher

• Introduction: This study presents a methodology for quantifying belt-based perturbations during treadmill locomotion. In light of the growing interest in understanding perturbations and their implications for fall prevention in older adults and injury risk in dynamic sports, this research aims to provide a framework to report detailed characteristics of belt-based perturbations in a standardizedIntroduction: This study presents a methodology for quantifying belt-based perturbations during treadmill locomotion. In light of the growing interest in understanding perturbations and their implications for fall prevention in older adults and injury risk in dynamic sports, this research aims to provide a framework to report detailed characteristics of belt-based perturbations in a standardized fashion.Methods: We established a series of perturbation parameters, including baseline velocity, perturbation temporal offset, and durations of acceleration phases, among others, to characterize belt-based perturbations comprehensively. We tested the method in fifteen healthy recreational runners who participated in a controlled experiment involving ten sudden foot backward slip-like anteroposterior perturbations on an instrumented treadmill.Results: The results demonstrated different variabilities in the newly established perturbation parameters, highlighting the need to accurately quantify them to allow for comparisons across studies and ensure consistency within a single study. The perturbation temporal offset parameter demonstrated the highest observed variability.Discussion: We recommend routinely describing these perturbation parameters in future studies using belt-based perturbations to improve the knowledge base in the field across labs. The presented parameter set is a standardized way to describe these belt-based perturbations. The code for calculating perturbation parameters is freely available to facilitate this goal.…