Abstract
ABSTRACTUltra-cushioning (ULTRA) shoes are new to the running shoe market. Several studies have evaluated kinematics and kinetics while running in ULTRA shoes, however it remains unknown how such shoes influence joint coordination. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate lower extremity coordination and coordination variability when running in minimalist (MIN), traditional (NEUT) and ULTRA shoes. Fifteen runners ran for ten minutes in each shoe type. Coordination patterns and coordination variability were assessed for rearfoot-tibia, rearfoot-knee, and tibia-knee couplings using a modified vector coding method during early, mid, and late stance periods. During late stance ULTRA shoes resulted in more antiphase coordination than MIN (p =.036) or NEUT (p =.047) shoes and less in-phase coordination than MIN (p =.048) or NEUT (p =.013) shoes. During late stance there was also more proximal phase rearfoot-knee coordination in ULTRA shoes than in either MIN (p =.039) or NEUT (p =.005) shoes and less in-phase coordination in ULTRA shoes than in NEUT shoes (p =.006). There were no differences in coordination variability between shoes during any phase. The differences in coordination may have implications for tissue loading and injury development when running in ULTRA shoes..
Highlights
Running is a popular form of exercise, with an estimated 19 million individuals running 3 or more days per week in the United States
During early stance (ES) there was a significant shoe by coordination pattern interaction (F6,84 = 3.508, p = .004, η2 = 0.200) with proximal phase coordination occurring more often in the MIN shoes than the neutral cushioning shoe (NEUT) shoes (p = .035) and in phase coordination occurring more often in the ULTRA shoes than in the NEUT shoes (p = .019, Figure 3)
We hypothesized there would be more antiphase coordination and greater coordination variability in the ULTRA shoes compared to the NEUT shoes
Summary
Running is a popular form of exercise, with an estimated 19 million individuals running 3 or more days per week in the United States. One area which has received considerable attention in regards to the development of running injuries is how movement is coordinated across multiple joints in the lower extremity. Within this focus area several methodologies have been used. Low coordination variability has been reported in runners with numerous injuries including patellofemoral pain syndrome, lower back pain, and tibial stress fractures.11,14–
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