EFFECT OF EXHAUSTIVE UPHILL RUNNING ON KNEE JOINT MOTION DURING THE STANCE PHASE OF RUNNING

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to imitate an exhaustive outdoor mountain road uphill running and investigate the effect on knee joint motion angles during the stance phase of running. Knee joint kinematical data collected from 8 male recreational runners running at 10 km/hr on a level treadmill prior to and following exhaustive uphill running revealed differences in flexion angles. These results demonstrated that exhaustive running can have an effect on knee joint running movement pattern. Due to these findings, the human natural movement control may be adjusted and the maintenance of preferred or optimal movement path costs more efforts which possibly play a role in many common lower extremity running injuries. This relevance may be applied to the future designing of assistive performance control shoes.