TREADMILL RUNNING: AN ELECTROMYOGRAPHIC AND KINEMATIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze electromyographic (EMG) activity of vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), biceps femoris caput longum (BFCL) and gastrocnemius lateralis (GL) muscles during contact phase, stride length (SL) and stride frequency (SF) among five time intervals of three different speeds during treadmill running incremental test: equivalent to anaerobic threshold (AT) (VAT), 15% below AT (VBE) and 15% above AT (VAB). The results showed that there were differences in stride frequency among intervals of VBE and VAB and the muscle activity presented different responses. It was concluded that this methodology of analysis, that combines EMG with kinematic, enhances the knowledge about important running aspects, contributing to understand this complex pattern of movement performed to improve health and performance.