THE EFFECTS OF PEDAL RATES ON PEDAL REACTION FORCES DURING ELLIPTICAL EXERCISE

Despite the growing popularity in recent years of elliptical exercise (EE), little is known regarding the loadings applied to the body during EE. Since overloading to the body may lead to early fatigue of the muscles and increase the incidence of overuse injuries, such information is necessary for safe use of the elliptical trainer (ET) as a fitness tool. The current study aimed to determine the typical patterns and loading rates of the measured pedal reaction forces (PRF), and to quantify their differences from those during level walking, and the effects of pedaling rate. Fifteen male adults performed level walking and EE while 3D marker data, right PRFs and ground reaction forces (GRF) were measured. The parameters of the ET were set for two different pedal rates: 50 rpm and 70 rpm. For each pedal rate, the parameters were set to match the variables measured during level walking, with a mean step length of 55 % leg length and no workload. During early stance the vertical PRF was smaller than the GRF, while the medial and posterior PRF were greater. PRFs also occurred during swing. Loading rates around heelstrike during EE were all smaller than those during walking. The medial, anterior and posterior PRF, as well as the medial and vertial loading rates increased with increasing pedal rates. The basic force patterns of EE and the effects of pedal rate were established in order to determine the true potential for such instrumentation in locomotion analysis. The results will be helpful for future related studies