Preferred temporal-spatial parameters, physical maturation, and sex are related to vertical and braking forces in adolescent long-distance runners

ABSTRACT

For adults, increasing cadence reduces ground reaction forces, but a lower preferred cadence does not predispose adults to experience higher ground reaction forces. Pubertal growth and motor control changes influence running mechanics, but it is unknown if preferred cadence or step length are associated with ground reaction forces for pre-adolescent and adolescent runners. Pre-adolescent and adolescent runners underwent an overground running analysis at a self-selected speed. Mixed model multiple linear regressions investigated the associations of preferred cadence, step length, physical maturation, and sex on ground reaction forces, while accounting for running speed and leg length. Running with a lower preferred cadence or longer preferred step length was associated with larger peak braking and vertical forces (p ≤ .01), being less physically mature was associated with larger vertical impact peak force and vertical loading rate (p ≤ .01), and being a male was associated with larger loading rates (p ≤ .01). A lower preferred cadence or longer preferred step length were associated with higher braking and vertical forces and being less physically mature or a male were associated with higher loading rates. An intervention to increase cadence/decrease step length could be considered if ground reaction forces are a concern for an adolescent runner.

KEYWORDS:

• Cadence
• step length
• ground reaction force
• puberty
• youth

Acknowledgments

We thank Eryn Close, Emily Jordan, and Brittany Vollmar for their assistance with data collection and post-processing for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14763141.2023.2218325.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Research Assistance Grant from the Wisconsin Athletic Trainers’ Association.