Acute effect of foot strike patterns on in vivo tibiotalar and subtalar joint kinematics during barefoot running

• Published in: Journal of sport and health science 2024-01, Vol.13 (1), p.108-117
• Main Authors: Ye, Dongqiang, Li, Lu, Zhang, Shen, Xiao, Songlin, Sun, Xiaole, Wang, Shaobai, Fu, Weijie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Foot strike patterns; High-speed dual fluoroscopic imaging system; In vivo kinematics; Original; Running
• ISSN: 2095-2546; 2213-2961; 2213-2961
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jshs.2023.05.002

•Running with acute forefoot strike pattern increases the internal rotation of the tibiotalar joint in the early stance.•No significant differences were observed between runners with rearfoot strike pattern and forefoot strike pattern for six degrees of freedom kinematics of the subtalar joint, except for the anterior translation at initial contact.•The high-speed dual fluoroscopic imaging system used to quantify the movement of the sub-joints effectively revealed the effects of rearfoot strike pattern vs. forefoot strike pattern during running. Foot kinematics, such as excessive eversion and malalignment of the hindfoot, are believed to be associated with running-related injuries. The majority of studies to date show that different foot strike patterns influence these specific foot and ankle kinematics. However, technical deficiencies in traditional motion capture approaches limit knowledge of in vivo joint kinematics with respect to rearfoot and forefoot strike patterns (RFS and FFS, respectively). This study uses a high-speed dual fluoroscopic imaging system (DFIS) to determine the effects of different foot strike patterns on 3D in vivo tibiotalar and subtalar joints kinematics. Fifteen healthy male recreational runners underwent foot computed tomography scanning for the construction of 3-dimensional models. A high-speed DFIS (100 Hz) was used to collect 6 degrees of freedom kinematics for participants’ tibiotalar and subtalar joints when they adopted RFS and FFS in barefoot condition. Compared with RFS, FFS exhibited greater internal rotation at 0%–20% of the stance phase in the tibiotalar joint. The peak internal rotation angle of the tibiotalar joint under FFS was greater than under RFS (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.92). RFS showed more dorsiflexion at 0%–20% of the stance phase in the tibiotalar joint than FFS. RFS also presented a larger anterior translation (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 1.28) in the subtalar joint at initial contact than FFS. Running with acute barefoot FFS increases the internal rotation of the tibiotalar joint in the early stance. The use of high-speed DFIS to quantify the movement of the tibiotalar and subtalar joint was critical to revealing the effects of RFS and FFS during running. [Display omitted]