Recherche clinique sur le pied et la cheville

Abstrait

Stance Quantified in Real World Scenario: Changes in Knee Joint Kinematic between Shod and Barefoot Running

Gurtej Grewal, Mary Lou Bareither, Matthew Walthers, Jacqueline Lee-Eng, Ruben Goebel and Bijan Najafi

Background: Barefoot running has been reported to cause favorable biomechanical changes during running. However, knee joint kinematics changes in stance phase during different running conditions in out of laboratory setup has not be explored. The aim of this study was to evaluate three dimensional changes in knee kinematics among habitual shod runners outside of gait laboratory during shod and barefoot running.

Methods: Using unobtrusive body-worn sensors mounted to anatomical segments, kinematic data were acquired in twelve healthy young individuals (Age 22.5 ± 2.2 years, BMI 21.4 ± 2 Kg/m²). Several kinematic parameters were compared between shod and barefoot running including three dimensional knee joint range of motion, tibia internalexternal rotation, knee medial-lateral impact, stride time, flight time, contact time and shock propagation time.

Results: With no significant difference (p=0.21) in running speed between the two trial conditions, significant reduction (6.4%, p=0.005) in flexion-extension range and increase (8.4%, p=0.0001) in internal-external rotation range of knee joint was observed from barefoot running. The knee joint Varus-valgus range of motion and impact was not influenced (p=0.88) by running condition. A significant increase of tibia rotation, shock transmission time (27%) from tibia to sacrum was observed (p=0.009) along with changes in gait cycle time and flight time (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The current study using body-worn sensors explored three dimensional changes in knee joint kinematics during stance phase under different running conditions in an out of laboratory environment. The results suggest that in habitual shod runners transiting to barefoot running can have negative impact from significant increase in range of internal-external rotation of knee joint and tibia. Future research studies are warranted in a larger sample size to confirm the findings.