RUNNING BIOMECHANICS: WHAT DID WE MISS?

This presentation describes a series of studies re-examining some basic aspects of running biomechanics. Kinematic data from ~20,000 subjects were collected in the field, at marathons and other running events. Responses to on-line surveys from over 2,000,000 runners were used to characterise the running demographic. The results show substantial differences between the runners participating in distance running events and the subjects employed in laboratory studies. Race participants are notably older, slower, have higher BMIs and are more frequently female than laboratory subjects. Foot contact patterns were found to occupy a normally distributed continuum rather than the discrete classes usually assumed. Runners have difficulty selfidentifying their foot contact “type”. At speeds in 2–3 m s-1 range, we observed a high incidence of “grounded running” gaits. Grounded running is, energetically, a running gait, with a potential energy minimum in mid-stance but there is a brief period of double stance and no aerial phase. This gait is common in other cursorial bipeds but has not been reported previously in humans