Running in highly cushioned shoes increases leg stiffness and amplifies impact loading

2018

AbstractRunning shoe cushioning has become a standard method for managing impact loading and consequent injuries due to running. However, despite decades of shoe technology developments and the fact that shoes have become increasingly cushioned, aimed to ease the impact on runners’ legs, running injuries have not decreased. To better understand the shoe cushioning paradox, we examined impact loading and the spring-like mechanics of running in a conventional control running shoe and a highly cushioned maximalist shoe at two training speeds, 10 and 14.5 km/h. We found that highly cushioned maximalist shoes alter spring-like running mechanics and amplify rather than attenuate impact loading. T…

Forefoot strikers exhibit lower running-induced knee loading than rearfoot strikers.

2013

AB Purpose: Knee pain and Achilles tendinopathies are the most common complaints among runners. The differences in the running mechanics may play an important role in the pathogenesis of lower limb overuse injuries. However, the effect of a runner's foot strike pattern on the ankle and especially on the knee loading is poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to examine whether runners using a forefoot strike pattern exhibit a different lower limb loading profile than runners who use rearfoot strike pattern. Methods: Nineteen female athletes with a natural forefoot strike (FFS) pattern and pair-matched women with rearfoot strike (RFS) pattern (n = 19) underwent 3-D running analysis …

Walking and Running Require Greater Effort from the Ankle than the Knee Extensor Muscles.

2016

The knee and ankle extensors as human primary antigravity muscle groups are of utmost importance in a wide range of locomotor activities. Yet, we know surprisingly little about how these muscle groups work, and specifically, how close to their maximal capacities they function across different modes and intensity of locomotion. Therefore, to advance our understanding of locomotor constraints, we determined and compared relative operating efforts of the knee and ankle extensors during walking, running, and sprinting.Using an inverse dynamics biomechanical analysis, the muscle forces of the knee and ankle extensors during walking (1.6 m·s), running (4.1 m·s), and sprinting (9.3 m·s) were quant…

The gait is less stable in children with cerebral palsy in normal and dual-task gait

2020

The gait is less stable in children with cerebral palsy in normal and dual-task gait compared to typically developed peers

2021

There is limited evidence about gait stability and its alteration by concurrent motor and cognitive tasks in children with cerebral palsy (CP). We examined gait stability and how it is altered by constrained cognitive or motor task in CP and their typically developed (TD) controls. Gait kinematics were recorded using inertial-measurement units (IMU) from 18 patients with hemiplegia (13.5 +/- 2.4 years), 12 with diplegia (13.0 +/- 2.1 years), and 31 TD controls (13.5 +/- 2.2 years) during unconstrained gait, and motor (carrying a tray) and cognitive (word naming) task constrained gait at preferred speed (similar to 400 steps/task). Step duration, its standard deviation and refined-compound-m…

Predictors of lower extremity injuries in team sports (PROFITS-study): a study protocol.

2015

Introduction Several intrinsic risk factors for lower extremity injuries have been proposed, including lack of proper knee and body control during landings and cutting manoeuvres, low muscular strength, reduced balance and increased ligament laxity, but there are still many unanswered questions. The overall aim of this research project is to investigate anatomical, biomechanical, neuromuscular, genetic and demographic risk factors for traumatic non-contact lower extremity injuries in young team sport athletes. Furthermore, the research project aims to develop clinically oriented screening tools for predicting future injury risk. Methods Young female and male players (n=508) from nine basket…

Knee Control and Jump-Landing Technique in Young Basketball and Floorball Players

2015

Poor knee alignment is associated with increased loading of the joints, ligaments and tendons, and may increase the risk of injury. The study purpose was to compare differences in knee kinematics between basketball and floorball players during a vertical drop jump (VDJ) task. We wanted to investigate whether basketball players, whose sport includes frequent jump-landings, exhibited better knee control compared with floorball players, whose sport involves less jumping. Complete data was obtained from 173 basketball and 141 floorball players. Peak knee valgus and flexion angles during the VDJ were analyzed by 3D motion analysis.Larger knee valgus angles were observed among basketball players …

Knee extensor and flexor dominant gait patterns increase the knee frontal plane moment during walking

2013

High gait-induced knee frontal plane moment is linked with the development of knee osteoarthritis. Gait patterns across the normal population exhibit large inter-individual variabilities especially at the knee sagittal plane moment profile during loading response and terminal stance phase. However, the effects of different gait patterns on this moment remain unknown. Therefore, we examined whether different gait patterns are associated with atypically high knee frontal plane moments. Profiles of knee joint moments divided a sample of 24 subjects into three subgroups (11, 7, 6) through cluster analysis. Kinetics, kinematics, and spatio-temporal parameters were compared among clusters. Subjec…

P 042 - Gait complexity quantified using inertial measurement units in children with cerebral palsy

2018

Abstract Children with cerebral palsy (CP) have gait impairments, and their gait is affected by concurrent tasks. We used inertial measurement units (IMU) to quantify CP-related gait complexity alterations, and identify effects of dual tasks on gait variability from 12 children with CP and 23 typically developed (TD) controls. The data were collected for normal and dual-tasks (motor; carrying a tray, cognitive; word naming) during walking. Step duration and adjusted multiscale entropy (MSE) index were computed. In overall, children with CP had shorter step duration and greater gait complexity than TD. Gait complexity was higher in vertical direction during the cognitive than normal and moto…

Which muscles compromise human locomotor performance with age?

2014

Ageing leads to a progressive decline in human locomotor performance. However, it is not known whether this decline results from reduced joint moment and power generation of all lower limb muscle groups or just some of them. To further our understanding of age-related locomotor decline, we compare the amounts of joint moments and powers generated by lower limb muscles during walking (self-selected), running (4 m s −1 ) and sprinting (maximal speed) among young, middle-aged and old adults. We find that age-related deficit in ankle plantarflexor moment and power generation becomes more severe as locomotion change from walking to running to sprinting. As a result, old adults generate more pow…

Ankle and knee extensor muscle effort during locomotion in young and older athletes : Implications for understanding age-related locomotor decline

2019

AbstractAge-related reduction in muscle force generation capacity is similarly evident across different lower limb muscle groups, yet decline in locomotor performance with age has been shown to depend primarily on reduced ankle extensor muscle function. To better understand why ageing has the largest detrimental effect on ankle joint function during locomotion, we examined maximal ankle and knee extensor force development during a two-leg hopping test in older and young men, and used these forces as a reference to calculate relative operating efforts for the knee and ankle extensors as participants walked, ran and sprinted. We found that, across locomotion modes in both age groups, ankle ex…

Importance of Patella, Quadriceps Forces, and Depthwise Cartilage Structure on Knee Joint Motion and Cartilage Response During Gait

2015

In finite-element (FE) models of the knee joint, patella is often omitted. We investigated the importance of patella and quadriceps forces on the knee joint motion by creating an FE model of the subject's knee. In addition, depthwise strains and stresses in patellar cartilage with different tissue properties were determined. An FE model was created from subject's magnetic resonance images. Knee rotations, moments, and translational forces during gait were recorded in a motion laboratory and used as an input for the model. Three material models were implemented into the patellar cartilage: (1) homogeneous model, (2) inhomogeneous (arcadelike fibrils), and (3) random fibrils at the superficia…

973 Knee control and jump-landing technique in young basketball and floorball players

2016

Background Poor knee alignment is associated with increased loading of the joints, ligaments and tendons, and may increase the risk of injury. The study purpose was to compare differences in knee kinematics between basketball and floorball players during a vertical drop jump (VDJ) task. We wanted to investigate whether basketball players, whose sport includes frequent jump-landings, exhibited better knee control compared with floorball players, whose sport involves less jumping. Methods Players (aged 12–21 years) were recruited from six basketball and floorball clubs of the Tampere City district, Finland. Complete data was obtained from 173 basketball and 141 floorball players. Peak knee va…

EFFECTS OF STRIKING STRATEGY ON LOWER EXTREMITY LOADING DURING RUNNING

2013

Backround It is expected that every second runner has a running-related overuse injury each year. The knee joint and Achilles tendon are the most commonly injured sites covering both about one fifth of all running related injuries. 1 Runners can be categorized into rearfoot strikers, mid-foot strikers or forefoot strikers based on the landing strategy at the instant of initial ground contact. Forefoot or mid-foot striking has been shown to reduce impact peak and loading rate of the ground reaction force during early stance phase. 2 Furthermore, the finding of the recent study suggest that forefoot striking may potentially decrease the risk of running-related injuries. 3 However, the effect …

Effects of medially posted insoles on foot and lower limb mechanics across walking and running in overpronating men.

2017

Anti-pronation orthoses, like medially posted insoles (MPI), have traditionally been used to treat various of lower limb problems. Yet, we know surprisingly little about their effects on overall foot motion and lower limb mechanics across walking and running, which represent highly different loading conditions. To address this issue, multi-segment foot and lower limb mechanics was examined among 11 over-pronating men with normal (NORM) and MPI insoles during walking (self-selected speed 1.70 +/- 0.19 m/s vs 1.72 +/- 0.20 m/s, respectively) and running (4.04 +/- 0.17 m/s vs 4.10 +/- 0.13 m/s, respectively). The kinematic results showed that MPI reduced the peak forefoot eversion movement in …

Change of Direction Biomechanics in a 180-Degree Pivot Turn and the Risk for Noncontact Knee Injuries in Youth Basketball and Floorball Players.

2021

Background: Studies investigating biomechanical risk factors for knee injuries in sport-specific tasks are needed. Purpose: To investigate the association between change of direction (COD) biomechanics in a 180-degree pivot turn and knee injury risk among youth team sport players. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: A total of 258 female and male basketball and floorball players (age range, 12-21 years) participated in the baseline COD test and follow-up. Complete data were obtained from 489 player-legs. Injuries, practice, and game exposure were registered for 12 months. The COD test consisted of a quick ball pass before and after a high-speed 180-degree pivot turn o…

A test of the effort equalization hypothesis in children with cerebral palsy who have an asymmetric gait.

2022

Healthy people can walk nearly effortlessly thanks to their instinctively adaptive gait patterns that tend to minimize metabolic energy consumption. However, the economy of gait is severely impaired in many neurological disorders such as stroke or cerebral palsy (CP). Moreover, self-selected asymmetry of impaired gait does not seem to unequivocally coincide with the minimal energy cost, suggesting the presence of other adaptive origins. Here, we used hemiparetic CP gait as a model to test the hypothesis that pathological asymmetric gait patterns are chosen to equalize the relative muscle efforts between the affected and unaffected limbs. We determined the relative muscle efforts for the ank…

Whole body frontal plane mechanics across walking, running, and sprinting in young and older adults

2016

This study investigated the whole body frontal plane mechanics among young (26 ± 6 years), early old (61 ± 5 years), and old (78 ± 4 years) adults during walking, running, and sprinting. The age-groups had similar walking (1.6 m/s) and running (4.0 m/s) speeds, but different maximal sprinting speed (young 9.3 m/s, early old 7.9 m/s, and old 6.6 m/s). Surprisingly, although the old group exerted much lower vertical ground reaction force during running and sprinting, the hip frontal plane moment did not differ between the age-groups. Kinematic analysis demonstrated increased hip adduction and pelvis drop, as well as reduced trunk lateral flexion among old adults, especially during sprinting. …

Deep learning approach for prediction of impact peak appearance at ground reaction force signal of running activity

2020

Protruding impact peak is one of the features of vertical ground reaction force (GRF) that is related to injury risk while running. The present research is dedicated to predicting GRF impact peak appearance by setting a binary classification problem. Kinematic data, namely a number of raw signals in the sagittal plane, collected by the Vicon motion capture system (Oxford Metrics Group, UK) were employed as predictors. Therefore, the input data for the predictive model are presented as a multi-channel time series. Deep learning techniques, namely five convolutional neural network (CNN) models were applied to the binary classification analysis, based on a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) classifi…

Kävelyn biomekaniikka MBT-kengällä, tavallisella kengällä ja paljain jaloin hiekalla

2008

Pesäpallon peruslyönnin liikeanalyysi

2006

Pesäpallon lyönti on vaativa suoritus, jota on tutkittu hyvin vähän. Lyönnin onnistumiseksi osuma palloon on ensisijaisen tärkeää. Lyönnin kovuus määräytyy osuman lisäksi lähinnä mailan nopeudesta. Lyönnin tärkein vaihe on lyöntikierto, jonka aikana lyöjän täytyy siirtää vauhdin horisontaalinen nopeus vartalon oikea-aikaiseksi kiertonopeudeksi ja edelleen käsien kautta mailan kulmanopeudeksi. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää pesäpallon lyönnin tekniikkaa tarkastelemalla lyöntikierron aikaista vartalon asentoa sekä eri segmenttien ja mailan nopeuksia sekä liikkeiden ajoitusta. Koehenkilöinä toimi viisi pesäpalloilijaa, jotka suorittivat useita lyöntejä valitsemistaan syötöistä. …

Prediction of active peak force using a multilayer perceptron

2017

Both kinematic parameters and ground reaction forces (GRFs) are necessary for understanding the biomechanics of running. Kinematic information of a runner is typically measured by a motion capture system whereas GRF during the support phase of running is measured by force platforms. To analyze both kinematics and kinetics of a runner over several subsequent contacts, an instrumented treadmill or alternatively several force platforms installed over a regulated space are available options, but they are highly immovable, expensive, and sometimes even impractical options. Naturally, it would be highly useful to predict GRFs using a motion capture system only and this way reduce costs and comple…

Kreatiinin käytön vaikutukset aitahyppelykuormituksen jälkeiseen lihasvaurioon

2008

Juha-Pekka Kulmala. 2008. Kreatiinin käytön vaikutukset aitahyppelykuormituksen jälkeiseen lihasvaurioon. Liikuntafysiologian kandidaatin tutkielma. Liikuntabiologian laitos, Jyväskylän yliopisto. 38 s., 1 liite Kreatiini on yksi suosituimmista lisäravinteista ja sen vaikutukset suorituskykyyn ja kehon koostumukseen tiedetään tarkasti. Kreatiinin vaikutuksista lihasvaurioon on sen sijaan varsin vähän tietoa. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, vähentääkö kreatiinin käyttö aitahyppelykuormituksen jälkeistä lihasvauriota. Koehenkilöinä oli neljä liikunnallisesti aktiivista miestä (ikä 25,5 ± 1 v., pituus 178 ± 5 cm, paino 75,8 ± 8,4 kg). Tutkimuksessa käytettiin sokkoutettua ristik…

The effects of locomotor pattern diversity and ageing on the lower limb joint mechanics and loading during human walking and running

2015