title: The geometric curvature of the spine of runners during maximal incremental effort test.
abstract: This study sought to analyse the behaviour of the average spinal posture using a novel investigative procedure in a maximal incremental effort test performed on a treadmill. Spine motion was collected via stereo-photogrammetric analysis in thirteen amateur athletes. At each time percentage of the gait cycle, the reconstructed spine points were projected onto the sagittal and frontal planes of the trunk. On each plane, a polynomial was fitted to the data, and the two-dimensional geometric curvature along the longitudinal axis of the trunk was calculated to quantify the geometric shape of the spine. The average posture presented at the gait cycle defined the spine Neutral Curve. This method enabled the lateral deviations, lordosis, and kyphosis of the spine to be quantified noninvasively and in detail. The similarity between each two volunteers was a maximum of 19% on the sagittal plane and 13% on the frontal (p<0.01). The data collected in this study can be considered preliminary evidence that there are subject-specific characteristics in spinal curvatures during running. Changes induced by increases in speed were not sufficient for the Neutral Curve to lose its individual characteristics, instead behaving like a postural signature. The data showed the descriptive capability of a new method to analyse spinal postures during locomotion; however, additional studies, and with larger sample sizes, are necessary for extracting more general information from this novel methodology.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Avaliação do Movimento Humano, Faculdade de Educação Física e Dança, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Brazil; Laboratório de Instrumentação para Biomecânica, Faculdade de Educação Física, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil. Electronic address: mariohcampos@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mário Hebling
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Avaliação do Movimento Humano, Faculdade de Educação Física e Dança, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Brazil; Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Goiás, Brazil; Laboratório de Instrumentação para Biomecânica, Faculdade de Educação Física, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcelo Costa
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: de Paula
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biomecânica e Comportamento Motor, Departamento de Educação Física, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Brazil; Laboratório de Instrumentação para Biomecânica, Faculdade de Educação Física, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Pedro Paulo
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Deprá
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Instrumentação para Biomecânica, Faculdade de Educação Física, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil.
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brenzikofer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010780:Photogrammetry; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology*; D013121:Spinal Curvatures; D013131:Spine / Q000502:physiology*; D060726:Torso / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Gait; Kinematics; Maximal effort test; Posture; Spine