Asoneofthemostimportantdailymotoractivities,humanlocomotionhasbeeninvestigatedintensivelyinrecentdecades.Thelocomotorfunctionsandmechanicsofhumanlowerlimbshavebecomerelativelywellunderstood.However,sofarourunderstandingofthemotionsandfunctionalcontributionsofthehumanspineduringlocomotionisstillverypoorandsimul-taneousin-vivolimbandspinalcolumnmotiondataarescarce.Theobjectiveofthisstudyistoinvestigatethedelicatein-vivokinematiccouplingbetweendifferentfunctionalregionsofthehumanspinalcolumnduringlocomotionasasteppingstonetoexplorethelocomotorfunctionofthehumanspinecomplex.Anovelinfraredreflectivemarkerclustersystemwasconstructedusingstereophotogrammetrytechniquestorecordthe3Din-vivogeometricshapeofthespinalcolumnandthesegmentalpositionandorientationofeachfunctionalspinalregionsimultaneously.Gaitmeasurementsofnormalwalkingwereconducted.Thepreliminaryresultsshowthatthespinalcolumnshapechangesperiodicallyinthefrontalplaneduringlocomotion.Thesegmentalmotionsofdifferentspinalfunctionalregionsappeartobestronglycoupled,indicatingsomesynergisticstrategymaybeemployedbythehumanspinalcolumntofacilitatelocomotion.Incontrasttotraditionalmedicalimaging-basedmethods,theproposedtechniquecanbeusedtoinvestigatethedynamiccharacteristicsofthespinalcolumn,henceprovidingmoreinsightintothefunctionalbiomechanicsofthehumanspine.
