A hierarchical cluster analysis to determine whether injured runners exhibit similar kinematic gait patterns

2020

Previous studies have suggested that runners can be subgrouped based on homogeneous gait patterns, however, no previous study has assessed the presence of such subgroups in a population of individuals across a wide variety of injuries. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess whether distinct subgroups with homogeneous running patterns can be identified among a large group of injured and healthy runners and whether identified subgroups are associated with specific injury location. Three‐dimensional kinematic data from 291 injured and healthy runners, representing both sexes and a wide range of ages (10‐66 years) was clustered using hierarchical cluster analysis. Cluster analysis r…