Does texting while walking really affect gait in young adults?

Background: texting on a smartphone while walking has become a customary task among young adults. in recent literature many safety concerns on distracted walking have been raised. it is often hypothesized that the allocation of attentional resources toward a secondary task can influence dynamic stability. in the double task of walking and texting it was found that gait speed is reduced,but there is scarce evidence of a modified motor control strategy compromising stability. the aim of this study is twofold: 1) to comprehensively examine the gait modifications occurring when texting while walking,including the study of the lower limb muscle activation patterns,2) to specifically assess the co-contraction of ankle antagonist muscles. we hypothesized that texting while walking increases co-contractions of ankle antagonist muscles when the body weight is transferred from one lower limb to the other,to improve the distal motor control and joint stabilization. methods: from the gait data collected during an instrumented walk lasting 3 min,we calculated the spatiooral parameters,the ankle and knee kinematics,the muscle activation patterns of tibialis anterior,gastrocnemius lateralis,peroneus longus,rectus femoris,and lateral hamstrings,and the co-contraction (occurrence and duration) of the ankle antagonist muscles (tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius lateralis),bilaterally. results: young adults showed,overall,small gait modifications that could be mainly ascribable to gait speed reduction and a modified body posture due to phone handling. we found no significant alterations of ankle and knee kinematics and a slightly delayed activation onset of the left gastrocnemius lateralis. however,we found an increased co-contraction of tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius lateralis,especially during mid-stance. conversely,we found a reduced co-contraction during terminal stance. conclusions: our results suggest that,in young adults,there is an adjustment of the motor control strategy aimed at increasing ankle joint stability in a specific and critical phase of the gait cycle,when the body weight is transferred from one leg to the other. © 2015 agostini et al.