Unloaded Running Research Articles

Load increases IMU signal attenuation per step but reduces IMU signal attenuation per kilometre

BackgroundDespite deleterious biomechanics associated with injury, particularly as it pertains to load carriage, there is limited research on the association between physical demands and variables captured with wearable sensors. While inertial measurement units (IMUs) can be used as surrogate measures of ground reaction force (GRF) variables, it is unclear if these data are sensitive to military-specific task demands. Research questionCan wearable sensors characterise physical load and demands placed on individuals in different load, speed and grade conditions? MethodsData were collected on 20 individuals who were self-reportedly free from current injury, recreationally active, and capable of donning 23 kg in the form of a weighted vest. Each participant walked and ran on flat, uphill (+6 %) and downhill (-6 %) without and with load (23 kg). Data were collected synchronously from optical motion capture (OMC) and IMUs placed on the distal limb and the pelvis. Data from an 8-second window was used to generate a participant-based mean of OMC and IMU variables of interest. Repeated Measures ANOVA was used to measure main and interaction effects of load, speed, and grade. Simple linear regression was used to elucidate a relationship between OMC measures and estimated metabolic cost (EMC) to IMU measures. ResultsLoad reduces foot and pelvic accelerations (p<0.001) but elevate signal attenuation per step (p=0.044). Conversely, attenuation per kilometre is lowered with the addition of load (p=0.017). Uphill had the lowest attenuation per step (p=0.003) and kilometre (p≤0.033) in walking, while downhill had the greatest attenuation per step (p≤0.002) and per kilometre (p≤0.004). Attenuation measures are inconsistently moderately related to limb negative work (R≤0.57). EMC is moderately positively related to unloaded running (R≥0.39), and moderately negatively related to walking with and without load (R≤-0.52). SignificanceWhile load reduces peak accelerations at both the pelvis and foot. However, it may increase demand on the lower extremity to attenuate the signal between the two sensors with each step, while attenuation over time reduces with load.

The effect of different resistance and assistance loads on 30-m sprint kinematics.

Resisted sprint and assisted sprint are the two main types of training methods used by athletes in sprint training, so optimizing resisted sprint training and assisted sprint training process is beneficial for improving athletes' sprint performance. Kinematics is the most intuitive parameter that reflects the quality of training during running process, and it is particularly important to analyze the gait of athletes during resisted and assisted sprint process. Therefore, this paper investigates the effects of resisted and assisted sprint on the sprint kinematics of sprinters in the first 30 meters to demonstrate the targeted effects of resisted and assisted sprint training. The experimental results show that compared to the unloaded running, male collegiate sprinters increase their total step count, decrease their step length, increase their step time, increase their contact time, whereas have almost no change in the flight time when performing the 30-m resisted sprint. Male collegiate sprinters decrease their total step count, increase their step length, increase their step time, decrease their contact time and increase their flight time, when performing the 30-m assisted sprint. In addition, it is found that resisted sprint training is beneficial for improving the athletes' power and explosiveness during the acceleration phase, thereby improving acceleration ability. However, prolonged and frequent resisted sprint training may reduce the step length and step frequency of athletes. Assisted sprint training is beneficial for shortening the contact time of athletes, improving their step length and flight time, and enabling them to overspeed, thereby increasing their maximum speed ability.

Heat stress increases carbohydrate oxidation rates and oxygen uptake during prolonged load carriage exercise

ABSTRACT Military missions are conducted in a multitude of environments including heat and may involve walking under load following severe exertion, the metabolic demands of which may have nutritional implications for fueling and recovery planning. Ten males equipped a military pack loaded to 30% of their body mass and walked in 20°C/40% relative humidity (RH) (TEMP) or 37°C/20% RH (HOT) either continuously (CW) for 90 min at the first ventilatory threshold or mixed walking (MW) with unloaded running intervals above the second ventilatory threshold between min 35 and 55 of the 90 min bout. Pulmonary gas, thermoregulatory, and cardiovascular variables were analyzed following running intervals. Final rectal temperature (MW: p < 0.001, g = 3.81, CW: p < 0.001, g = 4.04), oxygen uptake, cardiovascular strain, and energy expenditure were higher during HOT trials (p ≤ 0.05) regardless of exercise type. Both HOT trials elicited higher final carbohydrate oxidation (CHOox) than TEMP CW at min 90 (HOT MW: p < 0.001, g = 1.45, HOT CW: p = 0.009, g = 0.67) and HOT MW CHOox exceeded TEMP MW at min 80 and 90 (p = 0.049, g = 0.60 and p = 0.024, g = 0.73, respectively). There were no within-environment differences in substrate oxidation indicating that severe exertion work cycles did not produce a carryover effect during subsequent loaded walking. The rate of CHOox during 90 minutes of load carriage in the heat appears to be primarily affected by accumulated thermal load.

Head-torso coordination in police officers wearing loaded tactical vests during running

BackgroundThe influence of load carriage in operational police officers is not well understood despite a relatively high injury rate. Assessing load related changes in head and torso coordination may provide valuable insight into plausible injury mechanisms. Research questionDo typical police tactical vest loads alter head and torso coordination during running? MethodsThirty-eight UK police officers ran at a self-selected pace (>2 ms−1) on a non-motorised treadmill in four vest load conditions (unloaded, and low, high and evenly distributed loads). Peak head and torso tilt, and peak vest displacement were compared between all four conditions. Timings between vest and torso change of direction were compared between the three loaded conditions. The coupling angle between the head and torso calculated using modified vector coding were compared between unloaded and each loaded conditions using Statistical Parametric Mapping. ResultsNo significant differences were found between conditions for peak head or torso tilt alone (p > 0.05). Loading equipment low on the vest led to significantly greater mediolateral vest displacements (38 mm) away from the torso than a high (34 mm) or evenly distributed (30 mm) conditions. The vest was found to change direction vertically before the torso in the anterior-posterior direction, and then influence torso motion. The loaded conditions changed the head-torso coupling from in-phase (with head-dominancy) to anti-phase (with torso dominancy) between 55% and 77% stance. Anti-phase with a relatively stationary head and the torso rotating forward likely places a greater concentric demand on the posterior neck muscles relative to unloaded running. SignificanceCurrent tactical vest designs allow significant extra displacement of load away from the body during running, altering coordination at the head and torso.

Effects of lower limb light-weight wearable resistance on running biomechanics

Wearable resistance allows individualized loading for sport specific movements and can lead to specific strength adaptations benefiting the athlete. The objective was to determine biomechanical changes during running with lower limb light-weight wearable resistance. Fourteen participants (age: 28 ± 4 years; height: 180 ± 8 cm; body mass: 77 ± 6 kg) wore shorts and calf sleeves of a compression suit allowing attachment of light loads. Participants completed four times two mins 20-m over-ground shuttle running bouts at 3.3 m*s−1 alternated by three mins rest. The first running bout was unloaded and the other three bouts were under randomised loaded conditions (1%, 3% and 5% additional loading of the individual body mass). 3D motion cameras and force plates recorded kinematic and kinetic data at the midpoint of each 20-m shuttle. Friedman-test for repeated measures and linear mixed effect model analysis were used to determine differences between the loading conditions (α = 0.05). Increased peak vertical ground reaction force (2.7 N/kg to 2.74 N/kg), ground contact time (0.20 s to 0.21 s) and decreased step length (1.49 m to 1.45 m) were found with additional 5 % body mass loading compared to unloaded running (0.001 > p < 0.007). Marginally more knee flexion and hip extension and less plantarflexion was seen with higher loading. Differences in the assessed parameters were present between each loading condition but accompanied by subject variability. Further studies, also examining long term effects, should be conducted to further inform use of this training tool.

Effects of acute wearable resistance loading on overground running lower body kinematics.

Field-based sports require athletes to run sub-maximally over significant distances, often while contending with dynamic perturbations to preferred coordination patterns. The ability to adapt movement to maintain performance under such perturbations appears to be trainable through exposure to task variability, which encourages movement variability. The aim of the present study was to investigate the extent to which various wearable resistance loading magnitudes alter coordination and induce movement variability during running. To investigate this, 14 participants (three female and 11 male) performed 10 sub-maximal velocity shuttle runs with either no weight, 1%, 3%, or 5% of body weight attached to the lower limbs. Sagittal plane lower limb joint kinematics from one complete stride cycle in each run were assessed using functional data analysis techniques, both across the participant group and within-individuals. At the group-level, decreases in ankle plantarflexion following toe-off were evident in the 3% and 5% conditions, while increased knee flexion occurred during weight acceptance in the 5% condition compared with unloaded running. At the individual-level, between-run joint angle profiles varied, with six participants exhibiting increased joint angle variability in one or more loading conditions compared with unloaded running. Loading of 5% decreased between-run ankle joint variability among two individuals, likely in accordance with the need to manage increased system load or the novelty of the task. In terms of joint coordination, the most considerable alterations to coordination occurred in the 5% loading condition at the hip-knee joint pair, however, only a minority of participants exhibited this tendency. Coaches should prescribe wearable resistance individually to perturb preferred coordination patterns and encourage movement variability without loading to the extent that movement options become limited.

Whole-body active warm-up and inspiratory muscle warm-up do not improve running performance when carrying thoracic loads.

Whole-body active warm-ups (AWU) and inspiratory muscle warm-up (IMW) prior to exercise improves performance on some endurance exercise tasks. This study investigated the effects of AWU with and without IMW upon 2.4-km running time-trial performance while carrying a 25-kg backpack, a common task and backpack load in physically demanding occupations. Participants (n = 9) performed five 2.4-km running time-trials with a 25-kg thoracic load preceded in random order by (i) IMW comprising 2 × 30 inspiratory efforts against a pressure-threshold load of 40% maximal inspiratory pressure (PImax), (ii) 10-min unloaded running (AWU) at lactate turnpoint (10.33 ± 1.58 km·h-1), (iii) placebo IMW (PLA) comprising 5-min breathing using a sham device, (iv) AWU+IMW, and (v) AWU+PLA. Pooled baseline PImax was similar between trials and increased by 7% and 6% following IMW and AWU+IMW (P < 0.05). Relative to baseline, pooled PImax was reduced by 9% after the time-trial, which was not different between trials (P > 0.05). Time-trial performance was not different between any trials. Whole-body AWU and IMW performed alone or combination have no ergogenic effect upon high-intensity, short-duration performance when carrying a 25-kg load in a backpack.

The effects of body-borne loads and cadence manipulation on patellofemoral and tibiofemoral joint kinetics during running

Understanding how body-borne mass influences knee loads during running and how to modulate these knee loads may assist efforts to reduce the high rate of knee injuries in military populations. We tested a) the extent a 15-kg body-borne load affects peak and cumulative patellofemoral (PFJ) and tibiofemoral (TFJ) contact forces during running and b) if a 7.5% increase in running cadence modulates these contact forces. Compared with unloaded running, the body-borne load increased peak PFJ contact force (+0.2 body weights; p=0.001) and PFJ impulse (+32 body weights per km; p<0.001). Additionally, greater peak total TFJ contact force (+0.5 body weights; p<0.001) and greater peak medial TFJ contact force (+0.4 body weights; p=0.002) resulted with the added load. Similarly, 85 additional body weights of total TFJ impulse per km (p<0.001) and 65 additional body weights of medial TFJ impulse per km (p<0.001) were noted with the added load. The higher cadence condition reduced peak PFJ force (−0.5 body weights, p<0.001) and PFJ impulse per km (−15 body weights per km, p<0.016). Reduced peak total and peak medial TFJ contact forces (−0.8 body weights, p<0.001; −0.5 body weights, p<0.001, respectively) were also found with higher cadence, while reduced total TFJ and medial TFJ impulse per km (−18.5 body weights per km, p<0.001; −12.2 body weights per km, p<0.001, respectively) were observed. Thus, running with increased cadence eliminated increased knee loads per step but only partially reduced the greater cumulative knee loads per km that resulted with an added 15-kg body-borne load.

Influence of short-term unweighing and reloading on running kinetics and muscle activity.

In running, body weight reduction is reported to result in decreased lower limb muscle activity with no change in the global activation pattern (Liebenberg et al. in J Sports Sci 29:207-214). Our study examined the acute effects on running mechanics and lower limb muscle activity of short-term unweighing and reloading conditions while running on a treadmill with a lower body positive pressure (LBPP) device. Eleven healthy males performed two randomized running series of 9 min at preferred speed. Each series included three successive running conditions of 3 min [at 100 % body weight (BW), 60 or 80 % BW, and 100 % BW]. Vertical ground reaction force and center of mass accelerations were analyzed together with surface EMG activity recorded from six major muscles of the left lower limb for the first and last 30 s of each running condition. Effort sensation and mean heart rate were also recorded. In both running series, the unloaded running pattern was characterized by a lower step frequency (due to increased flight time with no change in contact time), lower impact and active force peaks, and also by reduced loading rate and push-off impulse. Amplitude of muscle activity overall decreased, but pre-contact and braking phase extensor muscle activity did not change, whereas it was reduced during the subsequent push-off phase. The combined neuro-mechanical changes suggest that LBPP technology provides runners with an efficient support during the stride. The after-effects recorded after reloading highlight the fact that 3 min of unweighing may be sufficient for updating the running pattern.

Effects of 8 wk of voluntary unloaded wheel running on K+ tolerance and excitability of soleus muscles in rat

During intense exercise, efflux of K(+) from working muscles increases extracellular K(+) ([K(+)](o)) to levels that can compromise muscle excitability and hence cause fatigue. In this context, the reduction in the exercise-induced elevation of [K(+)](o) observed after training in humans is suggested to contribute to the increased performance after training. Although a similar effect could be obtained by an increase in the tolerance of muscle to elevated [K(+)](o), this possibility has not been investigated. To examine this, isolated soleus muscles from sedentary (sedentary) rats and from rats that had voluntarily covered 13.1 ± 0.7 km/day in an unloaded running wheel for 8 wk (active) were compared. In muscles from active rats, the loss of force induced by exposure to an elevated [K(+)](o) of 9 mM was 42% lower than in muscles from sedentary rats (P < 0.001). This apparent increase in K(+) tolerance in active rats was associated with an increased excitability as evident from a 33% reduction in the electrical current needed to excite individual muscle fibers (P < 0.0009). Moreover, muscles from active rats had lower Cl(-) conductance, higher maximal rate of rise of single-fiber action potentials (AP), and higher Na(+)/K(+) pump content. When stimulated intermittently at 6.5 mM K(+), muscles from active rats displayed better endurance than muscles from sedentary rats, whereas no difference was found when the muscles were stimulated continuously at 30 or 120 Hz. We conclude that voluntary running increases muscle excitability, leading to improved tolerance to elevated [K(+)](o).

Noise level analysis of a bulldozer used in constructing a forest road in Mediterranean region of Turkey

Heavy machinery utilized in forest operations, as one of the working environments with intensive noise disturbance, result detrimental effects on the workers’ health. Particularly, high level noise generated from the road construction machines causes physiologic and psychological health problems on the operators. Among these problems, one of the most important occupational problems is hearing impairment or permanent hearing loss. In this study, the average and peak noise levels generated by a CAT D7G model bulldozer during two working stages (that is, unloaded running stage and road construction stage) of a road construction activity were measured from the operator cabin. The results indicated that the average noise levels for unloaded running stage and road construction stage were 73.87 and 84.11 dBA, respectively. The peak noise levels were measured as 95.90 and 113.40 dBA for unloaded running stage and road construction stage, respectively. Thus, it was found that the mean values of the average noise levels in both working stages were less than the warning limit of 85 dBA. The results also indicated that all of the peak noise levels were over the hazard limit of 90 dBA for both stages. Key words: Ergonomics, noise, worker’ safety, work machines.

Study on noise of precision panel saw

According to ZBJ65015-89 standard about noise level testing method of woodworking tool, the noise testing for MJ90# and MJC1125 precision panel saws was conducted by using model ND2 precision sound-level apparatus and double frequency wave filter. The testing results showed that the unloaded running noise source of precision panel saw was mainly from main saw blade and its aeromechanic noise was the largest. The rotating speed was determined as an important factor to impact dynamic characters of precision panel saw as the unloaded running noise increased along with speed increasing. For reducing noise of precision panel saw, the first important way is to reduce the aeromechanic noise produced by main saw blade rotating at high speed; based on assuring the processing precision, choosing low speed is a better way to drop dawn noise; from the view of design, the diameter of clamping lid is better of half of outer diameter of main saw blade.

An investigation of the interactions between lower-limb bone morphology, limb inertial properties and limb dynamics

Bone mass and size clearly affect the safety and survival of wild animals as well as human beings, however, little is known about the interactions between bone size and movement dynamics. A modeling approach was used to investigate the hypothesis that increased bone cortical area causes increased limb moments of inertia, decreased lower-limb movement maximum velocities, and increased energy requirements to sustain submaximum lower-limb locomotion movements. Custom software and digital data of a human leg were used to simulate femur, tibia, and fibula cortical bone area increases of 0%, 22%, 50%, and 80%. Limb segment masses, center of mass locations, and moments of inertia in the sagittal plane were calculated for each bone condition. Movement simulations of unloaded running and cycling motions were performed. Linear regression analyses were used to determine the magnitude of the effect cortical area has on limb moment of inertia, velocity, and the internal work required to move the limbs at a given velocity. The thigh and shank moment of inertia increased linearly up to 1.5% and 6.9%, respectively for an 80% increase in cortical area resulting in 1.3% and 2.0% decreases in maximum unloaded cycling and running velocities, respectively, and in 3.0% and 2.9% increases in internal work for the cycling and running motions, respectively. These results support the hypothesis and though small changes in movement speed and energy demands were observed, such changes may have played an important role in animal survival as bones evolved and became less robust.

Effects of load on oxygen intake in trained boys and men during treadmill running

This investigation examines the effects of vertical and horizontal loading on the O2 intake (VO2) response of children (n = 8) and adults (n = 8) to treadmill running. In unloaded running, the children required a significantly greater VO2 (P less than 0.001) than the adults [mean difference 7 ml.kg-1.min-1 (18.5%)]. There was no significant difference in the VO2 response of the children and the adults to either vertical or horizontal loading. Vertical loading with 5 and 10% of body mass did not produce a significant increase in the VO2 response of either group. In contrast, horizontal loading produced a significant increase (P less than 0.001) in both groups. The consistent response to the two forms of loading suggests that there is no difference between children and adults in the apparent efficiency of running with an external load. Stride frequency showed a significant increase with vertical loading (P less than 0.001) and a significant decrease with horizontal loading (P less than 0.001) in both groups.

Effect of Load Carriage on the Respiratory Metabolism of Running Worker Ants of Camponotus herculeanus (Formicidae)

The influence of load carriage on the metabolic rate of running worker ants of Camponotus herculeanus (L). was investigated by measuring the CO2 liberation of unloaded and loaded running individuals and by determining the RQ under different conditions. Further, some preliminary experiments on the capability of different ant species of carrying loads were carried out. The RQ of running ants was significantly different from that of anaesthetized animals, being 0.91 and 0.86 respectively. The metabolic rate per unit weight of loaded running individuals was a linear function of the load up to 55 mg, which is 1.4 times the mean weight of the ants. The net cost of transport per unit of total weight (J g1l km') was independent of how the weight was divided between the ant and the load. The extra cost of load carriage, net cost of loaded minus net cost of unloaded running, was insignificant for small loads. Finally, the load carrying capacity of different ant species was related to morphological features, especially the length of the legs.