Does it reduce the potential of lower extremity injury during the

Abstract

Background: Long distance running has become one of the most popular recreational activities. This has, however, led to an increase in running related injuries. Methods have been developed to help reduce the risk of injury; one of these methods has been the progression of barefoot running. A current interest is the mechanical and force generation differences between barefoot and shod running, both variables have been researched previously but this investigation will look at the current results and attempt to further previous research, to provide a significant answer for the associations with the reduction of overuse injuries in running. Aim: The aim of this study is to develop biomechanical understanding of barefoot running, looking at the relationship between barefoot running, injury and performance. This study will achieve its aim by examining the variables, force generation and mechanical differences which may occur between barefoot and shod conditions. Methods: Ten participants aged 18-25, all injury free, were used during this investigation. Ethical approval and informed consent were gained before the study commenced. Participants were marked up with 5 active coda motion markers along the left sagittal plane of the lower extremity. They ran over a 25m distance three times with footwear and three times without footwear. A single CODA motion Cx1 unit, two Kistler force plates and a single non-calibrated camera were used along with the active markers to collect the kinetic and kinematic data. The outcome data was filtered to reduce noise, using residual analysis. Data from the outcome results allowed the calculation of root mean squared difference (%) in order to discover the percentage difference between variables. A normality test was conducted followed by a paired sample t-test to discover a significant difference between results. Results: The foot placement difference identified that when running barefoot, a fore foot strike is mainly adopted compared a rear foot strike when running in shod. The kinetic data shows mainly similarities between the two conditions, with a few significant differences found. Conclusion: findings from this study confirm the differences in foot placement discovered in previous research but there was also several similarities found through kinetic data, proving that wearing footwear while running doesn’t reduce the force and impact absorbed by the lower extremity. The reduction in injury rates cannot be confirmed as they were not fully investigated, but the knowledge of the force and impact can be used to relate to a method of reducing injuries, providing a chance for future research.