Presenter(s): Joseph Smits
Faculty Mentor(s): Mike Hahn & Evan Day
Poster 35
Session: Sciences
Treadmills are commonly used in fitness centers and physical therapy clinics for training and monitoring gait mechanics during return-to-running programs. Previous work has established kinematic and kinetic differences between treadmill and overground running. This study sought to investigate how metatarsophalangeal joint (MTPJ) mechanics differ between the two conditions. Running trials were conducted on an instrumented treadmill (Bertec, Inc.) and on a 20-m overground runway at 4.0 m/s. Overground running velocity was monitored by calculating the average anterior-posterior velocity of a sacral marker during stance. Data were collected for five foot strikes and averaged for each condition for analysis. Participants all wore the same neutral footwear (Nike Streak 6 Flyknit) for both conditions. Range of motion, peak moment, and joint stiffness of the MTPJ were significantly different between overground and treadmill running. There was no significant difference in duration of the forefoot serving as the base of support (p=.18). Initial examination of these findings reveals that MTPJ kinematics and kinetics are different during overground and treadmill running. Clinicians and footwear scientists should be aware that treadmill evaluation may lead to inadequate translation to overground running.