Iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) is a common overuse knee injury that is twice as likely to afflict women compared to men. Lower extremity and trunk biomechanics during running, as well as hip abductor strength and iliotibial band flexibility, are factors believed to be associated with ITBS. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine if differences in lower extremity and trunk bi...

Control entropy (CE) is a complexity analysis suitable for dynamic, non-stationary conditions which allows the inference of the control effort of a dynamical system generating the signal. These characteristics make CE a highly relevant time varying quantity relevant to the dynamic physiological responses associated with running. Using High Resolution Accelerometry (HRA) signals we evaluate here...

OBJECTIVE To compare differences in hip and knee kinematics and kinetics in male and female recreational runners. DESIGN Gait analysis of 20 men and 20 women recreational runners. BACKGROUND Female runners are reported to be more likely to sustain certain lower extremity injuries compared to their male counterparts. This has been attributed, in part, to differences in their structure and it...

CONTEXT Decreased flexibility in muscles and joints of lower extremities is commonly observed in runners. Understanding the effect of decreased flexibility on knee walking kinematics in runners is important because, over time, altered gait patterns can make runners vulnerable to overuse injuries or degenerative pathologies. OBJECTIVES To compare hamstring and iliotibial-band (ITB) flexibility...

OBJECTIVE To characterize electrocardiographic and functional cardiac parameters and cardiopulmonary responses to exercise in long-distance Brazilian runners monitored at the Sport and Exercise Cardiology Outpatient Facility of a tertiary care hospital. METHODS Of an initial population of 443 male and female athletes of different sport modalities, we assessed 162 (37%) long-distance male runn...

BACKGROUND Female distance runners are predisposed to thinness for performance reasons and at greater risk for health-related consequences than the general population. OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to evaluate the secular trends in thinness among competitive distance runners in Japanese high schools with sex-specific comparison. METHODS Body mass index (BMI) were analysed in 9,881 fem...

Maximal performance is an essential metric for understanding many aspects of an organism's biology, but it can be difficult to determine because a measured maximum may reflect only a peak level of effort, not a physiological limit. We used a unique opportunity provided by a frog jumping contest to evaluate the validity of existing laboratory estimates of maximum jumping performance in bullfrogs...

OBJECTIVES To determine if measurements of static lower limb alignment are related to lower limb injury in recreational runners. METHODS Static lower limb alignment was prospectively measured in 87 recreational runners. They were observed for the following six months for any running related musculoskeletal injuries of the lower limb. Injuries were defined according to six types: R1, R2, and R...

The aim of this study was to examine the interaction between aging and 10 years of racing in endurance runners. Race-time data from 194 runners who had completed 10 consecutive 56-km ultramarathons were obtained. The runners were either 20.5 +/- 0.7, 30.0 +/- 1.0, 39.9 +/- 0.9, or 49.4 +/- 1.0 years old at their first race. Each runner's race speed was determined for each race over the 10 years...

OBJECTIVES To investigate whether runners' cognitions during a marathon are related to "hitting the wall". To test a new and more comprehensive system for classifying cognition of marathon runners. METHODS Non-elite runners (n = 66) completed a questionnaire after finishing the 1996 London marathon. The runners were recruited through the charity SPARKS for whom they were raising money by runn...