A KINEMATIC COMPARISON OF RUNNING ON TREADMILL AND OVERGROUND SURFACES

Abstract

Treadmills are often used for research in sport running shoes and physical training. The purpose of this study was to compare the kinematics in treadmill and overground running, and to investigate if the shoe testing on treadmill can reflect the performance of the running shoes on overground surfaces. Thirteen male subjects were recruited to run on treadmill, tartan, grass and concrete surfaces. Effective vertical stiffness, temporal and kinematic parameters were measured. The results showed that the running patterns within overground surfaces were not significantly different, while the significant differences were found between treadmill and overground running.