The location of the tibial accelerometer does influence impact acceleration parameters during running

ABSTRACT

Tibial accelerations have been associated with a number of running injuries. However, studies attaching the tibial accelerometer on the proximal section are as numerous as those attaching the accelerometer on the distal section. This study aimed to investigate whether accelerometer location influences acceleration parameters commonly reported in running literature. To fulfil this purpose, 30 athletes ran at 2.22, 2.78 and 3.33 m · s^–1 with three accelerometers attached with double-sided tape and tightened to the participants’ tolerance on the forehead, the proximal section of the tibia and the distal section of the tibia. Time-domain (peak acceleration, shock attenuation) and frequency-domain parameters (peak frequency, peak power, signal magnitude and shock attenuation in both the low and high frequency ranges) were calculated for each of the tibial locations. The distal accelerometer registered greater tibial acceleration peak and shock attenuation compared to the proximal accelerometer. With respect to the frequency-domain analysis, the distal accelerometer provided greater values of all the low-frequency parameters, whereas no difference was observed for the high-frequency parameters. These findings suggest that the location of the tibial accelerometer does influence the acceleration signal parameters, and thus, researchers should carefully consider the location they choose to place the accelerometer so that equivalent comparisons across studies can be made.

KEYWORDS:

• Tibial acceleration
• shock attenuation
• frequency analysis
• deceleration
• accelerometry

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Mr. Josh Gooding and Ms. Jodie Wills for their assistance throughout the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Spanish Government [Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Grant FPU12/00574; and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Subdirección General de Proyectos de Investigación, Convocatoria Proyectos I+D “Excelencia”, Subprograma de Generación de Conocimiento, 2013, Grant DEP2013-48420-P].