Background

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.

Objective

This study sought to compare the running biomechanics between preschoolers and adults.

Methods

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.

Results

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).

Conclusion

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.

中文翻译：

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学龄前儿童与成人跑步生物力学的差异

背景

高垂直负荷率与各种跑步相关的肌肉骨骼损伤有关。有证据表明，非后脚掌的踏步模式、更大的节奏和更短的步幅可能会降低垂直负荷率。这些特征似乎在学龄前儿童中很常见，他们的跑步损伤发生率似乎较低，这导致了成人是否应该相应地改变他们的跑步形式的争论。

客观的

本研究旨在比较学龄前儿童和成人的跑步生物力学。

方法

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)，并以自己选择的速度穿着他们常用的鞋子跑到地上。基于动力学数据计算垂直平均值（VALR）和垂直瞬时加载率（VILR）。使用运动捕捉系统收集足击模式和时空参数。

结果

两组之间的归一化 VALR ( p  =  0.48)、VILR ( p  =  0.48)、跑步速度 ( p  =  0.85) 和脚踩模式 ( p  =  0.29 ) 没有差异。学龄前儿童表现出更大的节奏 ( p  <  0.001) 和更短的归一化步幅 ( p  =  0.01)。

结论

通过比较儿童和成人之间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修改其跑步生物力学以降低受伤风险的观点。