Department of Health and Applied Human Sciences, University of North Carolina Wilmington , USA.
J Sports Sci Med. 2008 Mar 1;7(1):91-5. eCollection 2008.
The aim of this investigation was to determine if gait manipulation influences running economy. Following 30 minutes of accommodation to level treadmill running at 3.35 m·s(-1) and determination of VO2peak, nine female distance runners (age = 23.3 ± 4.2 years; body mass = 57.5 ± 5.2 kg; height = 1.64 ± 0.10 m; body fat = 11.4 ± 2.4 %; VO2peak = 54.9 ± 4.1 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)) completed two treadmill running sessions. In each session, standing VO2 was measured and subjects ran for 6 minutes at 3.35 m·s(-1) under 4 randomly-selected conditions: a) normal running (NL), b) hands behind back (BK), c) hands on head (HD), and d) running with exaggerated vertical oscillation (VOSC). During the last 2 minutes of each running bout, samples of expired air were analyzed to determine oxygen uptake (VO2). Data obtained by averaging gross VO2 values across sessions indicated that VOSC (51.0 ± 2.5 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)) and HD (46.1 ± 2.0 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)) resulted in significantly (p < 0.05) elevated VO2 values compared to BK (43.9 ± 2.4 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)) and NL (43.4 2.6 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)). VO2 measured during VOSC was also higher compared to HD. Viewed in concert, these results suggest that specific gait manipulations can produce marked decrements in running economy among trained female distance runners. Key pointsThis investigation demonstrates that specific biomechanical manipulations can produce substantive increases in the oxygen cost (VO2) of submaximal running in female distance runners.The magnitude of increases in VO2 reported in this study raises the intriguing possibility that meaningful improvements in running economy might be achieved by manipulating the gait of distance runners who exhibit specific aspects of running style that deviate markedly from the optimum.
本研究旨在探讨步态改变对跑步经济性的影响。9 名女性长跑运动员（年龄=23.3±4.2 岁；体重=57.5±5.2kg；身高=1.64±0.10m；体脂=11.4±2.4%；峰值摄氧量=54.9±4.1ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)）在适应 3.35m·s(-1)水平跑台跑 30 分钟并测定峰值摄氧量后，分别完成了 2 次跑台跑步测试。在每次测试中，测量静息摄氧量，然后让受试者在 4 种随机选择的条件下以 3.35m·s(-1)的速度跑步 6 分钟：a）正常跑（NL）、b）双手背在身后（BK）、c）双手放在头上（HD）和 d）夸大垂直振动跑（VOSC）。在每个跑步阶段的最后 2 分钟，分析呼气样本以确定耗氧量（VO2）。通过对两次跑步测试的平均值进行分析，结果显示，与 BK（43.9±2.4ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)）和 NL（43.4±2.6ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)）相比，VOSC（51.0±2.5ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)）和 HD（46.1±2.0ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)）显著增加了 VO2 值（p<0.05）。与 HD 相比，VOSC 测量的 VO2 值也更高。综合来看，这些结果表明，特定的步态改变可以使训练有素的女性长跑运动员的亚最大跑步经济性显著降低。关键点本研究表明，特定的生物力学改变可以使女性长跑运动员的亚最大跑步中氧气消耗（VO2）显著增加。本研究报告的 VO2 增加幅度提出了一个有趣的可能性，即通过改变表现出明显偏离最佳跑步风格的特定方面的跑步者的步态，可以显著提高跑步经济性。
