Abstract
The aim of this work was to examine the effects of barefoot, cross-fit, minimalist and conventional footwear on patellofemoral loading during running. Twelve cross-fit athletes ran at 4.0 m/s in each of the four footwear conditions. Lower limb kinematics were collected using an 8 camera motion analysis system and patellofemoral loading was estimated using a mathematical modelling approach. Differences between footwear were examined using one-way repeated measures ANOVA. The results showed the peak patellofemoral force and stress were significantly reduced when running barefoot (force = 3.42 BW & stress = 10.71 MPa) and in minimalist footwear (force = 3.73 BW & stress = 11.64 MPa) compared to conventional (force = 4.12 BW & stress = 12.69 MPa) and cross-fit (force = 3.97 BW & stress = 12.30 MPa) footwear. In addition, the findings also showed that patellofemoral impulse was significantly reduced when running barefoot (0.35 BW·s) and in minimalist footwear (0.36 BW·s) compared to conventional (0.42 BW·s) and cross-fit (0.38 BW·s) footwear. Given the proposed association between patellofemoral loading and patellofemoral disorders, the outcomes from the current investigation suggest that cross-fit athletes who select barefoot and minimalist footwear for their running activities may be at reduced risk from patellofemoral joint pathology in comparison to conventional and cross-fit footwear conditions.
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