Increasing cadence with a metronome and running barefoot changes the sagittal kinematics of the lower limbs and trunk

ABSTRACT

The purpose was to compare two non-laboratory based running retraining programs on lower limb and trunk kinematics in recreational runners. Seventy recreational runners (30 ± 7.3 years old, 40% female) were randomised to a barefoot running group (BAR), a group wearing a digital metronome with their basal cadence increased by 10% (CAD), and a control group (CON). BAR and CAD groups included intervals from 15 to 40 min over 10 weeks and 3 days/week. 3D sagittal kinematics of the ankle, knee, hip, pelvis, and trunk were measured before and after the retraining program, at comfortable and high speeds. A 3 × 2 mixed ANOVA revealed that BAR and CAD groups increased knee and hip flexion at footstrike, increased peak hip flexion during stance and flight phase, decreased peak hip extension during flight phase, and increased anterior pelvic tilt at both speeds after retraining. In addition, BAR increased ankle plantar flexion at footstrike and increased anterior trunk tilt. Both retraining programs demonstrated significant moderate to large effect size changes in parameters that could reduce the mechanical risks of injury associated with excessive knee stress, which is of interest to coaches, runners and those prescribing rehabilitation and injury prevention programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Mobile app
• long-term usage
• step rate
• unshod
• running form

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the study participants involved in recruitment.

Disclosure statement

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

Author contributions

A.M.-M., V.M.S.-H. and P.A.L.-R. defined the experimental design and conceptualized the approach. A.M.-M., G.D.-G and E.M.-P. collected the data. A.M.-M., P.A.L.-R. and J.R. carried out the statistical analysis. A.M.-M. wrote the paper. All authors reviewed the manuscript for scientific content. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional review board statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of XXXXX (No. XXXXXX)

Informed consent statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2330818.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.