A Comparison of Stride Length and Lower Extremity Kinematics during Barefoot and Shod Running in Well Trained Distance Runners.
Stride length, hip, knee and ankle angles were compared during barefoot and shod running on a treadmill at two speeds. Nine well-trained (1500m time: 3min:59.80s ± 14.7 s) male (22 ±3 years; 73 ±9 kg; 1.79 ±0.4 m) middle distance (800 m - 5,000 m) runners performed 2 minutes of running at 3.05 m·s-1and 4.72 m·s-1on an treadmill. This approach allowed continuous measurement of lower extremity kinematic data and calculation of stride length. Statistical analysis using a 2X2 factorial ANOVA revealed speed to have a main effect on stride length and hip angle and footwear to have a main effect on hip angle. There was a significant speed*footwear interaction for knee and ankle angles. Compared to shod running at the lower speed (3.05 m·s-1), well trained runners have greater hip, knee and ankle angles when running barefoot. Runners undertake a high volume (~75%) of training at lower intensities and therefore knowledge of how barefoot running alters running kinematics at low and high speeds may be useful to the runner.
Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Limerick, Ireland; School of Clinical and Applied Science, Leeds Beckett University, UK.
Peter
P
Francis
Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Limerick , Ireland.
James
J
Ledingham
Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Limerick, Ireland; School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University, UK; School of Health and Human Performance, Northern Michigan University, USA.
Sarah
S
Clarke
Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Limerick , Ireland.
D J
DJ
Collins
Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Limerick , Ireland.
Philip
P
Jakeman
Running mechanics; ankle; endurance; hip; knee