Peak and Per-Step Tibial Bone Stress During Walking and Running in Female and Male Recreational Runners. 2021

Stacey A Meardon, and Timothy R Derrick, and John D Willson, and Michael Baggaley, and C Ryan Steinbaker, and Margaret Marshall, and Richard W Willy
Department of Physical Therapy, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

Athletes, especially female athletes, experience high rates of tibial bone stress injuries (BSIs). Knowledge of tibial loads during walking and running is needed to understand injury mechanisms and design safe running progression programs. To examine tibial loads as a function of gait speed in male and female runners. Controlled laboratory study. Kinematic and kinetic data were collected on 40 recreational runners (20 female, 20 male) during 4 instrumented gait speed conditions on a treadmill (walk, preferred run, slow run, fast run). Musculoskeletal modeling, using participant-specific magnetic resonance imaging and motion data, was used to estimate tibial stress. Peak tibial stress and stress-time impulse were analyzed using 2-factor multivariate analyses of variance (speed*sex) and post hoc comparisons (α = .05). Bone geometry and tibial forces and moments were examined. Peak compression was influenced by speed (P < .001); increasing speed generally increased tibial compression in both sexes. Women displayed greater increases in peak tension (P = .001) and shear (P < .001) than men when transitioning from walking to running. Further, women displayed greater peak tibial stress overall (P < .001). Compressive and tensile stress-time impulse varied by speed (P < .001) and sex (P = .006); impulse was lower during running than walking and greater in women. A shear stress-time impulse interaction (P < .001) indicated that women displayed greater impulse relative to men when changing from a walk to a run. Compared with men, women displayed smaller tibiae (P < .001) and disproportionately lower tibial forces (P≤ .001-.035). Peak tibial stress increased with gait speed, with a 2-fold increase in running relative to walking. Women displayed greater tibial stress than men and greater increases in stress when shifting from walking to running. Sex differences appear to be the result of smaller bone geometry in women and tibial forces that were not proportionately lower, given the womens' smaller stature and lower mass relative to men. These results may inform interventions to regulate running-related training loads and highlight a need to increase bone strength in women. Lower relative bone strength in women may contribute to a sex bias in tibial BSIs, and female runners may benefit from a slower progression when initiating a running program.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D005080 Exercise Test Controlled physical activity which is performed in order to allow assessment of physiological functions, particularly cardiovascular and pulmonary, but also aerobic capacity. Maximal (most intense) exercise is usually required but submaximal exercise is also used. Arm Ergometry Test,Bicycle Ergometry Test,Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing,Exercise Testing,Step Test,Stress Test,Treadmill Test,Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test,EuroFit Tests,Eurofit Test Battery,European Fitness Testing Battery,Fitness Testing,Physical Fitness Testing,Arm Ergometry Tests,Bicycle Ergometry Tests,Cardiopulmonary Exercise Tests,Ergometry Test, Arm,Ergometry Test, Bicycle,Ergometry Tests, Arm,Ergometry Tests, Bicycle,EuroFit Test,Eurofit Test Batteries,Exercise Test, Cardiopulmonary,Exercise Testing, Cardiopulmonary,Exercise Tests,Exercise Tests, Cardiopulmonary,Fitness Testing, Physical,Fitness Testings,Step Tests,Stress Tests,Test Battery, Eurofit,Test, Arm Ergometry,Test, Bicycle Ergometry,Test, Cardiopulmonary Exercise,Test, EuroFit,Test, Exercise,Test, Step,Test, Stress,Test, Treadmill,Testing, Cardiopulmonary Exercise,Testing, Exercise,Testing, Fitness,Testing, Physical Fitness,Tests, Arm Ergometry,Tests, Bicycle Ergometry,Tests, Cardiopulmonary Exercise,Tests, EuroFit,Tests, Exercise,Tests, Step,Tests, Stress,Tests, Treadmill,Treadmill Tests
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001696 Biomechanical Phenomena The properties, processes, and behavior of biological systems under the action of mechanical forces. Biomechanics,Kinematics,Biomechanic Phenomena,Mechanobiological Phenomena,Biomechanic,Biomechanic Phenomenas,Phenomena, Biomechanic,Phenomena, Biomechanical,Phenomena, Mechanobiological,Phenomenas, Biomechanic
D012420 Running An activity in which the body is propelled by moving the legs rapidly. Running is performed at a moderate to rapid pace and should be differentiated from JOGGING, which is performed at a much slower pace. Runnings
D013977 Tibia The second longest bone of the skeleton. It is located on the medial side of the lower leg, articulating with the FIBULA laterally, the TALUS distally, and the FEMUR proximally. Tibias
D016138 Walking An activity in which the body advances at a slow to moderate pace by moving the feet in a coordinated fashion. This includes recreational walking, walking for fitness, and competitive race-walking. Ambulation

Related Publications

Stacey A Meardon, and Timothy R Derrick, and John D Willson, and Michael Baggaley, and C Ryan Steinbaker, and Margaret Marshall, and Richard W Willy
May 2024, Scientific reports,
Stacey A Meardon, and Timothy R Derrick, and John D Willson, and Michael Baggaley, and C Ryan Steinbaker, and Margaret Marshall, and Richard W Willy
January 1989, Journal of sports sciences,
Stacey A Meardon, and Timothy R Derrick, and John D Willson, and Michael Baggaley, and C Ryan Steinbaker, and Margaret Marshall, and Richard W Willy
May 2022, Biology,
Stacey A Meardon, and Timothy R Derrick, and John D Willson, and Michael Baggaley, and C Ryan Steinbaker, and Margaret Marshall, and Richard W Willy
January 2020, BioMed research international,
Stacey A Meardon, and Timothy R Derrick, and John D Willson, and Michael Baggaley, and C Ryan Steinbaker, and Margaret Marshall, and Richard W Willy
September 2020, Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985),
Stacey A Meardon, and Timothy R Derrick, and John D Willson, and Michael Baggaley, and C Ryan Steinbaker, and Margaret Marshall, and Richard W Willy
January 2020, Gait & posture,
Stacey A Meardon, and Timothy R Derrick, and John D Willson, and Michael Baggaley, and C Ryan Steinbaker, and Margaret Marshall, and Richard W Willy
January 2019, Journal of sports sciences,
Stacey A Meardon, and Timothy R Derrick, and John D Willson, and Michael Baggaley, and C Ryan Steinbaker, and Margaret Marshall, and Richard W Willy
October 2022, Journal of applied biomechanics,
Stacey A Meardon, and Timothy R Derrick, and John D Willson, and Michael Baggaley, and C Ryan Steinbaker, and Margaret Marshall, and Richard W Willy
June 2023, Sports biomechanics,
Stacey A Meardon, and Timothy R Derrick, and John D Willson, and Michael Baggaley, and C Ryan Steinbaker, and Margaret Marshall, and Richard W Willy
February 2016, European journal of applied physiology,
Copied contents to your clipboard!