| Force Plate Analysis of Running Gait in Male Endurance Runners with Patellofemoral Pain: Influence of Loading Rates and Foot-Strike Patterns |
| Paper ID : 1534-SPORTCONGRESS |
| Authors |
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Roya Bigtashkhani *1, Emad Bigtashkhani2 1PhD Student, Department of Sports Injury and Corrective Exercises, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran* 2MSc Student, Department of Computer Engineering, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran |
| Abstract |
| Abstract Introduction: Patellofemoral pain (PFP) affects up to 30% of male endurance runners and is linked to high vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) loading rates and suboptimal foot-strike patterns. This cross-sectional study compared biomechanical profiles in runners with long-duration (>6 months(vs.short-duration (≤6 months) PFP during overground running. Methods: Thirty-eight male endurance runners (age: 28.7 ± 4.1 yrs; weekly mileage: 45.2 ± 7.9 km) with clinically diagnosed PFP (VAS ≥3/10) ran at *11.0 ± 0.2 km/h* (controlled via timing gates) over an AMTI OR6-7 force plate (1000 Hz). Sagittal-plane video (Samsung A54, 120 fps, 4K) was *time-synchronized* with force data (Qualisys Track Manager). Instantaneous vGRF loading rate, peak patellofemoral joint stress, Achilles/plantar fascia cumulative load, foot-strike pattern (rearfoot/midfoot/forefoot), and cadence were quantified. Kinematics were digitized using Kinovea v0.9.5 (*intra-rater ICC = 0.91*; mean of 5 trials). Results: Runners with long-duration PFP exhibited 26% higher vGRF loading rates (74.3 ± 10.8 vs. 59.1 ± 9.4 BW/s, p < 0.001) and 26% greater patellofemoral stress (6.8 ± 1.1 vs. 5.4 ± 0.9 MPa, p = 0.002) than short-duration cases. Rearfoot strikers with cadence <170 steps/min* had 4.7-fold higher joint stress (OR = 4.7, 95% CI: 1.9–11.6; sensitivity 78%, specificity 71%). Conclusion: Coaches and clinicians can use force plate + smartphone video to identify modifiable risk factors (high loading rate, rearfoot strike, low cadence) in male runners with persistent PFP*, enabling evidence-based gait retraining to reduce pain and prevent chronicity. |
| Keywords |
| Keywords: Patellofemoral pain, vGRF loading rate, foot-strike pattern, force plate, male endurance runners, gait retraining |
| Status: Abstract Accepted (Poster Presentation) |
