Your Gait Changes when you text....

Does texting alter your gait? It sure seems to slow you down, and according to this study, alter firing patterns of muscles about your ankle. Perhaps you are trying to preserve ankle rocker and maintain stability? It is interesting that ankle dorsiflexion actually increased and plantar flexion decreased.

"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."

link to FREE FULL TEXT: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4579642/