Elsevier

Gait & Posture

Volume 38, Issue 2, June 2013, Pages 354-356
Gait & Posture

Short communication
Footstrike patterns among novice runners wearing a conventional, neutral running shoe

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2012.11.022Get rights and content

Abstract

Introduction

It has been suggested that striking on the midfoot or forefoot, rather than the rearfoot, may lessen injury risk in the feet and lower limb. In previous studies, a disparity in distribution in footstrike patterns was found among elite-, sub-elite, and recreational runners.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the footstrike patterns among novice runners.

Methods

All runners were equipped with the same conventional running shoe. Participants were video filmed at 300 frames per second and the footstrike patterns were evaluated by two observers. The footstrike was classified as rearfoot, midfoot, forefoot, or asymmetrical.

Results

A total of 903 persons were evaluated. The percentages of rearfoot-, midfoot-, forefoot-, and asymmetrical footstrike among men were 96.9%, 0.4%, 0.9%, and 1.8%, respectively. Among women the percentages were 99.3%, 0%, 0%, and 0.7%, respectively.

Conclusion

Nearly all novice runners utilize a rearfoot strike when taking up running in a conventional running shoe. Hereby, the footstrike patterns among novice runners deviate from footstrike patterns among elite and sub-elite runners.

Highlights

► Video recording was used to categorize footstrike patterns among novice runners. ► A majority of novice runners utilize a rearfoot strike. ► Visual assessment seems feasible when categorizing footstrike patterns.

Introduction

It has been suggested that forefoot (FFS) and midfoot strike (MFS) gaits may protect the feet and lower limbs from some of the injuries experienced by a high percentage of runners, whereas rearfoot strike (RFS) during running have been suggested to be an important predictor for development of running related injuries [1], [2]. The proportion of runners utilizing different footstrike patterns has been investigated among elite and sub-elite runners. Hasegawa et al. [3] found the proportion of RFS, MFS, and FFS to be 74.9%, 23.7%, and 1.4%, respectively. In a study by Larson et al. [4] the footstrike patterns among recreational and sub-elite runners were found to be 94.4% (RFS), 3.6% (MFS) and 1.9% (FFS), which corresponds well to the findings by Kasmer et al. [5]. The findings by Hasegawa et al. [3] and Larson et al. [4] indicate that the main part of runners utilize a rearfoot strike. However, there seems to be a difference in the distribution of RFS, MFS, and FFS between the elite, and the group of sub-elite/recreational runners in the two studies. This suggests that runners at different levels utilize different footstrike patterns. If this is true, the proportions of the three footstrike patterns may be different among novice, elite and recreational runners.

To our knowledge, no studies have been conducted to investigate the footstrike patterns among inactive persons taking up running. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the footstrike patterns among novice runners wearing a conventional running shoe. Furthermore, we investigated if visual evaluation of video recordings was a feasible method to gather information about footstrike pattern.

Section snippets

Methods

Video recordings of footstrike patterns were gathered at University of Aarhus, Denmark among healthy persons between the ages of 18 and 65. Preceding the video recording, participants were equipped with the same neutral conventional running shoe (Supernova glide 3 male/female, Adidas, Herzogenaurach, Germany), and instructed to run a 500 m distance. Hereafter, the participants were instructed to run 27.5 m in a laboratory runway turn around and run back to the start. A digital camera (Exilim

Results

A total of 933 runners were recorded. Of these, 30 persons were excluded. Data on demographic characteristics were lost on three persons. The remaining 27 persons were excluded due to walking (n = 18), inadequate running style (n = 1), no video recording, (n = 3), ran in the wrong direction (n = 1), wrong or missing label number on video (n = 3), and video to dark to visualize footstrike pattern (n = 1). Finally, 903 runners were included in the analysis. Demographic characteristics of the 903 runners

Discussion

A total of 98.12% of male and female runners utilize a footstrike on the rearfoot in the current study. Hereby, the frequency novice runners utilizing a RFS seem to be greater than the frequency of rearfoot strikers among elite and recreational runners, as Hasegawa et al. [3], Larson et al. [4] and Kasmer et al. [5] found the frequency of rearfoot strikers 74.9%, 88.9% and 93.7%, respectively.

The video recordings of each participant were evaluated by two observers. The inter observer agreement

Conclusions

Nearly all novice runners utilize a rearfoot strike when taking up running in a conventional running shoe. Visual evaluation of video recordings seems to be a feasible method to gather information about footstrike pattern.

Conflict of interest

All authors hereby state that they are in no way influenced by financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work.

References (6)

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  • There is no difference in footstrike pattern distribution in recreational runners with or without anterior knee pain

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    Therefore, as the main result of our study, we observed that runners with or without AKP have the same distribution of FSP, which is predominantly a rearfoot strike pattern (96 %). Previous studies related to FSP were conducted with healthy runners without any MSK complaints, which impairs the comparison of our results with the literature [11,14,28]. In general, FSP in runners is predominantly a rearfoot strike pattern, with percentages that vary from 70 to 95 %.

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    The sample of runners included in any study presents inherent limitations. The inclusion of only rearfoot strikers suggests that findings of the present study are only generalizable to approximately 75–98% of the running population [27–30]. Additionally, the strength of the coupling relationship between the calcaneus and tibia was not controlled across participants in the present study.

  • Video-based assessment of foot strike pattern and step rate is valid and reliable in runners with patellofemoral pain

    2018, Physical Therapy in Sport
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    Both classification methods (2 or 3 categories) yielded excellent reliability indices; therefore both could be advised for clinical use in runners with knee injuries. Using the same 3-category classification as in our study, Daoud et al. (2012) (agreement = 100%) and Bertelsen et al. (2013) (Kappa = 0.76–0.92) also reported excellent reliability for determining foot strike pattern based on video assessment in 7 and 903 healthy runners, respectively. In contrast, Damsted et al. (2015) has evaluated the intra-rater reliability of foot strike pattern using 5 different possibilities (heel, heel/midfoot, midfoot, midfoot/forefoot, forefoot) and obtained considerably lower indices (Kappa = 0.50–0.63 for same day; Kappa = 0.41–0.53 between days).

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1

Address: Eckersbergsgade 19, 2. tv, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. Tel.: +45 26 70 13 39.

2

Address: Stadionvej 57, 2 th., 5200 Odense V, Denmark. Tel.: +45 25 32 13 01.

3

Address: Dalgas Avenue 4, room 438, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. Tel.: +45 87 16 81 79.

4

Address: Søndre Skovvej 15, Aalborg Hospital, DK-9000 Aalborg C, Denmark.

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