| Treadmill
walking and running using a supportive harness has been used as a
training method to rehabilitate injured patients' walking or running
gait. Comparison of full weight support (FWS) and body weight support
(BWS) kinematic measures in competitive runners has received little
attention. The purpose of this study was to compare selected FWS to
BWS kinematic measures in healthy competitive runners. Ten male runners
(age = 21.4 ± 1.5 years) with a training regimen averaging 64 km per
week at 3.8 m·s-1 participated. All participants ran three
3-minute trials. The randomized trial conditions were: FWS, 20% BWS,
and 40% BWS. All conditions were videotaped with 2 cameras and a 21-point,
3-D model was generated for analysis. From the position-time data,
cycle length (CL), cycle frequency (CF), time of contact (TC), hip-,
knee-, ankle- range of motion in degrees (H-ROM, K-ROM, and A-ROM,
respectively), and vertical displacement of the center of mass (COM)
were derived and compared. With increasing support conditions, cycle
length increased. Cycle frequency, hip and ankle angle ranges, and
COM vertical displacement decreased (p < 0.05). However, the ankle
angle range of motion varied little between 20% and 40 % BWS (p >
0.05). BWS running produced significant changes in selected kinematic
measures. These changes may provide insight into runners' behavior
when using BWS in training or recovery from competition. Additional
investigation of BWS training affect with competitive runners would
be recommended.
KEY
WORDS: Partial weight support, locomotion, gait characteristics,
running.
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