Gait dynamics, fractals and falls: Finding meaning in the stride-to-stride fluctuations of human walking

Until recently, quantitative studies of walking have typically focused on properties of a typical or average stride, ignoring the stride-to-stride fluctuations and considering these fluctuations to be noise. Work over the past two decades has demonstrated, however, that the alleged noise actually conveys important information. The magnitude of the stride-to-stride fluctuations and their changes over time during a walk – gait dynamics – may be...