Stefan Murray Ulster University, Jordanstown, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland
ABSTRACT: This study investigates the difference between barefoot and shod running for landing kinetics and stance phase temporal parameters. Seven participants were used to run 3.5m/s ± 5% across a Kistler Type 9287CA force plate to measure the vertical ground reaction force and thus calculating contact time (s), impact peak (%BW), active peak (%BW), average and instantaneous loading rate (%BW).Statistical significance was found for contact time, average and instantaneous loading rate. Active peak and contact time are larger for shod. A significantly greater impact …show more content…
Dissimilar to walking the initial contact in the stance phase of running is not called the heel strike as first contact with the ground is not always the heel, instead it is referred to as foot strike (Everett, 2010). Running consists of a stance phase, swing phase and also a flight phase when the runner has no contact with the ground. Recent trends have lead to the popularity of barefoot running and thus a common question amongst the running community is weather to run barefoot or shod. Divert et al., (2005) promotes shod running, claiming that the development of the modern running shoe should improve shock absorption and rear foot control. Lieberman (2012) states that 75-80% of runners naturally develop a rear foot strike as an alternative either fore foot strike or mid foot strike. Rear foot strikers tend to be shod runners as the cushioning of the shoe provides a reduction in initial impact forces. Forefoot & mid foot runners tend to run barefoot to reduce pressure on the heel by inducing a flatter foot landing (De Wit et al., 2000). De Koning (1994) and De wit (2000) recorded a significant increase in loading rate for barefoot running in comparison to shod …show more content…
Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS v 19.1) was used to conduct a Shapiro-Wilk test to check if that data was normally distributed. If normality was found a T-test was used to test for significance (p=0.8). RESULTS:
Table 1 Vertical Ground Reaction forces for the five key stance phase variables (Mean ± SD)
Contact Time (s) Instantaneous loading rate (%BW/s) Impact peak force (%BW) Average loading rate (%BW/s) Active peak