Effect of three different running gait cues on vertical tibial acceleration

Background: Repetitive impacts during running are associated with some running injuries. Tibial acceleration is a proxy for tibial loading, and interventions that can decrease it are likely to be of interest to the running community.

Research question: What effect do running gait cues have on peak vertical tibial acceleration at a comfortable and moderate running pace, and how will these cues be executed?

Methods: Twenty-seven participants ran on a treadmill according to the following cues in random order: run softly and lightly, run with shorter steps, and increase preferred step rate by 7.5 %. Participants maintained each condition for one minute before returning to their ‘preferred’ running pattern for two minutes. Two tibia-mounted inertial measurement unit sensors were used to collect tibial acceleration data at a ‘comfortable’ and ‘moderate’ run pace. A repeated measures analysis of variance test was used to compare the means between running conditions.

Results: Compared to preferred running, the decrease step length (−8 %, p = 0.002, Cohen’s d=0.33) and run softly and lightly (−9 %, p = 0.040, Cohen’s d=0.38) cues provided a significant reduction in peak vertical tibial acceleration during a comfortable run pace. No significant difference was observed with an increase in step rate. Compared to preferred running, there was no significant difference in peak vertical tibial acceleration with any of the running gait cues during a moderate run pace.

Significance: Instructing runners to decrease step length or run softly and lightly can result in small reductions in peak vertical tibial acceleration during a comfortable run pace, but running gait cues during a moderate run pace provide no effects. Differences in the execution of each cue are likely to influence overall tibial loading throughout the stride cycle. These findings provide novel biomechanical evidence for the potential effects of running retraining strategies for reducing tibial accelerations at different running paces.