The characteristics of vertical ground reaction forces between midfoot and rearfoot running gaits

• Main Author: Lee, Yun Xuan
• Other Authors: -
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Science::General
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162652
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Background: Gait retraining has been a subject of growing interest in the literature as a way to reduce injury-associated parameters and promote pain-free running. Despite the attempts to quantify a “good” running gait, there is a lack of consistency in evaluating the effects of both forefoot and rearfoot runners, the former which does not get much attention due to the assumption that forefoot striking is better than rearfoot striking and little attempts have been made to investigate the immediate changes ground reaction forces that occurs when imposing a different footstrike. Aims & Hypothesis: This study aims to explore the changes of vertical ground reaction forces that occur when an individual adopts a non-habitual footstrike pattern. It is hypothesised that ground reaction force parameters will immediately decrease when adopting a forefoot strike but not when adopting a rearfoot strike. Methods: GRFs from 10 consecutive foot strikes were recorded from 11 participants who participated in a single session of treadmill running at 7km/hr. Participants were tasked to run in their habitual foot strike before switching to a non-habitual footstrike pattern. Peak active forces, time to peak active forces and vertical instantaneous loading rates were calculated from the force data. Results: A significant difference in 2 GRF parameters was identified when participants adopted a forefoot strike (p>0.05). No significant differences were detected when adopting a forefoot strike (p<0.05). Conclusion: Adopting a forefoot running gait may bring about lowered impact forces, however precaution should be taken when transitioning to a non-habitual footstrike pattern. Additionally, runners should be aware of the other injury risk parameters that are associated with the footstrike pattern they are adopting. Future researchers may consider solely focusing on conversions from a habitual forefoot strike to a rearfoot strike due to the paucity in literature. Keywords: gait, ground reaction forces, running, injury, loading rates