Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, Hong Kong, China.
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
Braz J Phys Ther. 2021 Mar-Apr;25(2):162-167. doi: 10.1016/j.bjpt.2020.05.003. Epub 2020 May 26.
High vertical loading rate is associated with a variety of running-related musculoskeletal injuries. There is evidence supporting that non-rearfoot footstrike pattern, greater cadence, and shorter stride length may reduce the vertical loading rate. These features appear to be common among preschoolers, who seem to experience lower running injury incidence, leading to a debate whether adults should accordingly modify their running form.
This study sought to compare the running biomechanics between preschoolers and adults.
Ten preschoolers (4.2±1.6 years) and ten adults (35.1±9.5 years) were recruited and ran overground with their usual shoes at a self-selected speed. Vertical average (VALR) and vertical instantaneous loading rate (VILR) were calculated based on the kinetic data. Footstrike pattern and spatiotemporal parameters were collected using a motion capture system.
There was no difference in normalized VALR (p=0.48), VILR (p=0.48), running speed (p=0.85), and footstrike pattern (p=0.29) between the two groups. Preschoolers demonstrated greater cadence (p<0.001) and shorter normalized stride length (p=0.01).
By comparing the kinetic and kinematic parameters between children and adults, our findings do not support the notion that adults should modify their running biomechanics according to the running characteristics in preschoolers for a lower injury risk.
高垂直加载率与各种与跑步相关的肌肉骨骼损伤有关。有证据表明，非后足着地方式、更高的步频和更短的步长可能会降低垂直加载率。这些特征似乎在学龄前儿童中很常见，他们似乎受伤的几率较低，这引发了一个争论，即成年人是否应该相应地改变他们的跑步方式。
本研究旨在比较学龄前儿童和成年人的跑步生物力学。
招募了 10 名学龄前儿童（4.2±1.6 岁）和 10 名成年人（35.1±9.5 岁），他们穿着自己平时穿的鞋子，以自定速度在地面上跑步。根据动力学数据计算垂直平均（VALR）和垂直瞬时加载率（VILR）。使用运动捕捉系统收集足跟着地模式和时空参数。
两组之间的归一化 VALR（p=0.48）、VILR（p=0.48）、跑步速度（p=0.85）和足跟着地模式（p=0.29）均无差异。学龄前儿童的步频更高（p<0.001），归一化步长更短（p=0.01）。
通过比较儿童和成人的动力学和运动学参数，我们的研究结果不支持成年人应该根据学龄前儿童的跑步特征来改变他们的跑步生物力学以降低受伤风险的观点。
