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A master's thesis from Aalborg University
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Do different running shoes affect the joint moments on hip, knee, and ankle?

Author

Term

4. semester

Publication year

2024

Submitted on

Pages

18

Abstract

Løb er populært og godt for krop og sind, men indebærer også en høj risiko for skader i benene. Mange studier har fokuseret på reaktionskræfter fra underlaget, selvom de ikke forudsiger den indre belastning i kroppen særlig godt. Denne undersøgelse ser i stedet på, hvordan fem forskellige løbesko – fra minimalistiske til carbon-modeller – påvirker ledmomenter (drejekræfter) omkring hofte, knæ og ankel. 28 deltagere besøgte Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CARE) én gang. De løb 2,78 m/s (10 km/t) på et instrumenteret løbebånd og bar hver af de fem sko i tilfældig rækkefølge i 4,5 minut, mens bevægelse (kinematik) og kræfter (kinetik) blev målt med Vicon Nexus-kameraer og kraftplader i løbebåndet. En lineær mixed model blev brugt til at sammenligne maksimale (peak) ledmomenter mellem skoene. Resultaterne viste statistisk signifikante forskelle i parvise sammenligninger mellem sko. Især gav minimalistiske sko højere maksimale anklemomenter, mens maksimalistiske sko gav lavere maksimale hoftemomenter. Fundene tyder på, at skodesign ændrer, hvordan leddene belastes under løb, hvilket understreger betydningen af at vælge passende fodtøj for at forebygge skader og optimere præstation. Fremtidig forskning bør undersøge, hvordan løbesko påvirker belastninger på vævsniveau, og om der er kønsforskelle i responsen på forskellige skodesign.

Running is popular and beneficial for mental health, but it also carries a high risk of lower-limb injury. Many studies have focused on ground reaction forces, even though these do not predict the body’s internal load well. This study instead examined how five types of running shoes—from minimalist to carbon models—affect joint moments (torques) at the hip, knee, and ankle. Twenty-eight participants visited the Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CARE) once. They ran at 2.78 m/s (10 km/h) on an instrumented treadmill, wearing each of the five shoes in random order for 4.5 minutes while motion-capture cameras (Vicon Nexus) and built-in force plates recorded movement (kinematics) and forces (kinetics). A linear mixed model was used to compare peak joint moments across shoes. The results showed statistically significant differences in pairwise comparisons between shoes. In particular, minimalist shoes led to higher peak ankle moments, whereas maximalist shoes led to lower peak hip moments. These findings indicate that shoe design changes how joints are loaded during running, highlighting the importance of selecting appropriate footwear for injury prevention and performance. Further research is needed to examine tissue-level loads and to determine whether responses differ by gender.

[This summary has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]