Essay on Biomechanics of Running

When I began as a high school freshman, it quickly became a normal as well as an essential part of life. I ate, I slept, I sometimes did homework, and I ran but, not necessarily in that order.

This is part of a group of group of injuries called “overuse injuries”, which are most prevalent in runners and athletes who practice strenuous exercise.

Manual muscle testing will be tested to assess the strength in muscles used for running such as the prime/strong muscles which are the hamstrings, gastrocnemius, soleus, quadriceps, and tibialis anterior. This will also determine the weakness in muscles such as the plantarflexors, dorsiflexors, knee flexion, and knee extension. Also, range of motion will be tested on the tight muscles such as the hamstrings, gastrocnemius, quadriceps, and tibialis anterior. When the muscles are tight, the runner will increase the risk of injury (Schipper, 2009). Gait analysis will be used to examine deficits to body function, stability, and describe how the patient will be running. This will help determine the patient’s biomechanics and achieve adequate mobility. Lastly, we will perform a pain assessment to see what pain level the patient is at when running. This will help determine whether the patient is minimizing stress on the body to achieve no pain at all while running. To monitor progress of these assessments, we must know that if these “muscles are weak or become fatigued easily, there is less control of the leg and the risk of injury increases" (Schipper, 2009, paragraph

Jason Hodde, Jeff Robbins, Norm Yarger, and Karl King each personally emailed me with insightful information on running-related injuries. The listserve is such a great interactive source of information. Who better to learn from but the runners themselves? They are the ones who have to cope with the injuries. Any amount of personal experience through trial and error is better advice than book knowledge. This is the reason why so many runners advise that running-related injuries should be taken to a doctor who has running experience because he will be more inclined to look to rectify the cause of the injury instead of resorting to surgery.

The studies have shown some of the significant considerations and effectiveness of treadmill walking as a way of conducting biomechanical experiments. Studies on walking including issues such as gait and cadence can be addressed more efficiently using treadmills because they provide a continuous walking surface as opposed to walking over ground. The treadmill also provides an efficient platform for performing experiments because its speed as well as inclination can be altered in order to assess variations in outcomes for participants. The mean step length, walking speed, and cadence have been shown to be important aspects in walking because they influence the overall effects on the individual in terms of the calories burnt. In this way, the variables can play a significant role in influencing the effectiveness of walking as a form of

The purpose of the barefoot running study article is to determine whether runners can achieve the propose of favorable kinematic changes and reduction in loading rate after a progressive training program. The article designed a study that hypothesized that not all individuals would experience a decrease in initial loading rate facilitated by increased ankle plantar flexion after a progressive barefoot running program but would further a relationship that exist between changes in initial loading and sagittal ankle

Majority of sports injuries are muscular strains of the lower limb. These injuries make up a third of all sports referrals to sports physicians and their frequency and disabling effect is well documented according to recent literature. The most common muscular strains of the lower limb are hamstring strains which accounts for 12-16% of all injuries in athletes with a re-injury rate of 22-34% in a much recent research. Although systematic epidemiological studies within athletics are scarce, testimonies from coaches and athletes are consentient, pointing to a high frequency of hamstring injuries, especially in sprinting. Throughout the last several decades, several serious attempts have been made to understand the cause of hamstring muscle strain

During walking and running, leg muscles produce forces that impact the tibiofemoral joint. These forces can have a negative impact on the development, health and maintenance of the cartilage and meniscus in that joint (and increased load on the knees and the tibiofemoral joint can result in osteoarthritis). The tibiofemoral load is varied depending on the muscle coordination patterns. The laboratory created a musculoskeletal model of subject to analyze the tibiofemoral load, and an optimization framework to calculate the load from muscle coordination. Using the model and optimization framework, the laboratory was able to understand the impact of different muscle coordination on the tibiofemoral load. The laboratory was able to precisely predict tibiofemoral forces when compared to in vivo measurements during the early stance phase, but overshot its prediction during the late stance phase. The over-prediction of the tibiofemoral load was due to the extended activity of the gastrocnemius and the rectus femoris. The laboratory was able to modify the activity of these two muscles to increase resemblance with in vivo measurements. The laboratory was also able to identify distinct changes in muscle activity that could decrease tibiofemoral load. A decrease in activation of the rectus femoris and gastrocnemius and an increase in activation of the soleus, gluteus medium and uniarticular hip flexors can decrease the tibiofemoral forces during late

Franettovich Smith et al. (2014), have found that neuromotor control of the gluteus medius and gluteus maximus muscles in runners with Achilles tendinopathy. Ryan et al. (2009) found an increase in eversion

There is lots of myths and legends, from bulls with swinging axes to lemon juice making blackheads disappear, I am going to explore the myth that running can ruin your joints and hurt the future you.

Many abnormal kinematic gait characteristics have been hypothesized to contribute to pain development. At the knee joint, altered tibiofemoral rotation and an increase in knee abduction during the stance phase of gait have been proposed to result in lateral patellar tracking (10). These kinematic differences could result from structural abnormalities (11), or altered kinematics at the hip or knee (12). Thus, onset of AKP in runners may not necessarily be causally related to strength deficits. Several factors have been suggested to explain the presence of AKP including decreased muscle strength and altered mechanical loading, lower limb kinematics, and muscle activation patterns during running

According to “Diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of stress fractures in the lower extremity of runners”, “Stress fractures account for between 1% and 20% of athletic injuries, with 80% of stress fractures in a lower extremity” (87).

Just like posture and range of motion in the arms, stride length and angle is important for a runner, specifically running economy which is the energy it takes to achieve a certain velocity. Santos Concejero and others (2014) conducted a study that concluded “athletes may find stride angle useful for improving RE.” I compared the stride length of an expert to a novice, following videos I had watched online as well as watching experienced and unexperienced runners and tried to have my participant mimic the form. The story performed by Santos Concejero also stated that “biomechanical running technique characterized by high stride angles and a midfoot/forefoot strike pattern is advantageous for a better RE” (Santos-Concejero et al., 2014). In

During neutral standing, participants were asked to stand quietly and maintain gaze at a marker set in front of them. For forward step without ADIM, each participant was first asked to walk around comfortably to sense his or her normal step length. After assessing their normal step length, they were asked to take a forward step that was comparable. Last, the proper performance of the ADIM was practiced. “Subjects were instructed to take in a deep breath, draw their belly button up and in towards the spine as they exhale and to hold this position.” Confirmation of the proper performance of the ADIM was measured using ultrasound. Skin markers were placed on the visualized fascial planes for reproducibility. Participants performed each of the three postures and data was collected.

Productive running began thousands of years ago. The basis of the human civilizations survival, it was necessary before any race was even imagined. Mankind has been running since the beginning of time as a means of survival. Our ancestors relied throughout prehistoric times on endurance to run longer and farther than that of their prey. In order to survive, we adapted incredible abilities to running farther as faster at once. One such way is an ability to cool off naturally also know as sweating. Perspiration from the sweat glands give humans the ability to let off heat through their unique pores throughout the skin. As well as a special feature to let of excess heat humans also have