Abstract:
Introduction: Achillodynia is one of the most common sports injuries. Many studies have been carried out under standardised conditions on a treadmill, but it is not clear if these results are transferable for overground running. The first objective of this study was the evaluation of the test-retest-variability (TRV) of measurements for treadmill and overground running. The second objective was the comparison of biomechanical variables to determine the pattern of running while running on the treadmill and overground.
Methods: The roll-over characteristics of 21 test persons during running were analyzed. 11 subjects were healthy (KO) and 10 suffered from unilateral achillodynia (ADY). The plantar pressure distribution while running barefoot (BF) and with running shoes (LS) was tested twice on a treadmill and twice overground for all test persons. The time lag between the measurements averaged out one week. The plantar pressure measurements were done using the Pedar mobile System Novel, Munich (50Hz/2 sensors/cm2), with a standardised velocity of 12 km/h. For better observation, the foot was subdivided into ten anatomical regions (PRC-mask) and two measures, peak pressure (PP) and maximum force (MF), were determined.
Results: The TRV of treadmill-running was higher than overground running. There were higher TRV-values for BF than LS. During the landing and push-off phases, barefoot KO showed statistically significant higher loading during overground running compared with treadmill running. Barefoot ADY showed no differences. Shod ADY and KO showed higher loading in the push-off phase during overground-running. ADY also showed this phenomenon in the landing-phase.
Discussion: Less stability in the barefoot condition (medio-lateral-movement) caused higher TRV values for barefoot KO and ADY. The high TRV values of treadmill running compared with overground running were caused by unfamiliar movement when walking on the belt of the treadmill, e.g. when the runner tried to equalize the moving belt under his feet when running. The higher loading of KO and ADY during overground running (during the landing and push-off phases) might be explained by a more careful landing and push-off on a treadmill, due to the unusual way of running. In addition, the treadmill belt cushioned the loading during walking more than during overground running on the track.
To obtain more distinct differences in future projects, more reliable and exact measurement systems and methods are necessary, e.g. in-sole measurement with higher resolution (time/local). It would be interesting to examine whether electromyographical measurements show differences between treadmill and overground running, as the push-off is eased considerably by the treadmill belt during running. The stabilization of the foot during treadmill running is another interesting question to investigate. Therefore, new evaluation methods for plantar distribution measurements must be developed. In addition, it would also be interesting to see if different shoe-types (neutral, stable, trail) can minimize the differences. A larger number of test persons could also differentiate additional roll-over patterns during overground and treadmill-running.