Tibial Acceleration and Shock Attenuation in Female and Male Distance Runners at Different Levels of Body Weight Unloading

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dc.contributor.authorLeatham, Cheyenne Liahonaen
dc.contributor.committeechairWilliams, Jay H.en
dc.contributor.committeememberVolpe, Stella L.en
dc.contributor.committeememberTegarden, David P.en
dc.contributor.committeememberGoforth, Michael W.en
dc.contributor.departmentHuman Nutrition, Foods and Exerciseen
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-29T08:02:26Zen
dc.date.available2024-05-29T08:02:26Zen
dc.date.issued2024-05-28en
dc.description.abstractRunning popularity has led to a rise in chronic lower limb injuries resulting from cumulative loading. Many of these injuries are tibial stress fractures. Tibial accelerometers are commonly used to measure tibial stress and may even be predictive of injury at the distal limb. Lower body positive pressure (LBPP) treadmills have become increasingly popular amongst athletes and practitioners to prevent and treat lower limb injuries by reducing effective body weight (BW) through mechanical support. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate if BW unloading affects tibial acceleration (TA) and shock attenuation. Twelve trained distance runners (Sex: 6 males and 6 females; Age: 18-30 years) were recruited for this study. TA was measured through two Blue Trident, IMeasureU step units located at the distal tibiae. A STATSports Apex unit was also used to measure acceleration at the superior trunk and calculate shock attenuation for each limb. It was found that BW unloading had no discernable effect on mean peak TA and shock attenuation, bone stimulus, or contact time, regardless of running speed. However, a significant relationship was observed between running speed and both mean peak TA and bone stimulus where an increase in speed led to an increase in TA and bone stimulus. Furthermore, running speed did not affect shock attenuation or contact time. In conclusion, BW unloading did not alter gait kinematics in trained distance runners.en
dc.description.abstractgeneralRunning popularity has led to a rise in chronic lower limb injuries, particularly stress fractures at the shin or tibia bone, due to greater impact forces and "stiffer" landings. Tibial accelerometers are commonly used to measure these impact forces and may even be predictive of injury at the tibia bone near the ankle. The process of reducing these impact forces is called shock attenuation. Lower body positive pressure (LBPP) treadmills have become increasingly popular amongst athletes and practitioners to prevent and treat lower limb injuries by unloading body weight (BW) through mechanical support. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate if BW unloading affects tibial acceleration (TA) and shock attenuation. Twelve trained distance runners (Sex: 6 males and 6 females; Age: 18-30 years) were recruited for this study. TA was measured through two Blue Trident, IMeasureU step units located at the shin. A STATSports Apex unit was also used to measure impact at the upper trunk and calculate shock attenuation for each limb. It was found that BW unloading did not affect mean peak TA and shock attenuation, bone stimulus, or contact time, regardless of running speed. However, running speed significantly affected both mean peak TA and bone stimulus where an increase in speed led to an increase in TA and bone stimulus. Furthermore, running speed did not affect shock attenuation or contact time. In conclusion, BW unloading did not alter impact forces in trained distance runners. Caution is advised for individuals with injuries at the shin when using LBPP treadmills.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:40885en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10919/119155en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectTibial accelerationen
dc.subjectshock attenuationen
dc.subjectlower body positive pressure treadmillen
dc.subjectantigravity treadmillen
dc.subjecthypogravity treadmillen
dc.subjectBoost treadmillen
dc.subjectrunningen
dc.titleTibial Acceleration and Shock Attenuation in Female and Male Distance Runners at Different Levels of Body Weight Unloadingen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineHuman Nutrition, Foods, and Exerciseen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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