The effect of visual focus on spatio-temporal and kinematic parameters of treadmill running

•Two conditions of visual focus during running on a treadmill were assessed.•Looking forward resulted in greater mass centre vertical displacement.•The greater mass centre vertical displacement resulted in larger head accelerations.•Knee and ankle adaptations were suggested as compensatory mechanism...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Gait & posture 2018-01, Vol.59 (NA), p.292-297
Main Authors: Lucas-Cuevas, Ángel G., Priego Quesada, Jose I., Gooding, Josh, Lewis, Martin G.C., Encarnación-Martínez, Alberto, Perez-Soriano, Pedro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acceleration
Adult
Ankle eversion
Biomechanical Phenomena
Exercise Test
Fixation, Ocular
Gait
Gait - physiology
Gaze
Humans
Impact acceleration
Knee flexion
Lower Extremity - physiology
Male
Running - physiology
Time and Motion Studies
Vision
Young Adult
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Summary:•Two conditions of visual focus during running on a treadmill were assessed.•Looking forward resulted in greater mass centre vertical displacement.•The greater mass centre vertical displacement resulted in larger head accelerations.•Knee and ankle adaptations were suggested as compensatory mechanisms of impacts.•Results suggest that runners should look down instead of looking forward. The characteristics of a treadmill and the environment where it is based could influence the user’s gaze and have an effect on their running kinematics and lower limb impacts. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of visual focus on spatio-temporal parameters and lower limb kinematics during treadmill running. Twenty six experienced runners ran at 3.33ms−1 on a treadmill under two visual conditions, either looking ahead at a wall or looking down at the treadmill visual display. Spatio-temporal parameters, impact accelerations of the head and tibia, and knee and ankle kinematics were measured for the final 15s of a 90s bout of running under each condition. At the end of the test, participants reported their preference for the visual conditions assessed. Participants’ stride angle, flight time, knee flexion during the flight phase, and ankle eversion during contact time were increased when runners directed visual focus toward the wall compared to the treadmill display (p
ISSN:0966-6362
1879-2219
DOI:10.1016/j.gaitpost.2017.07.039