Minimalist versus conventional running shoes: Effects on injury prevalence and muscle function in experienced distance runners
- Conditions
- Injury, Occupational Diseases, PoisoningMusculoskeletal DiseasesInjury prevalence, Muscle function
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- Other
- Sex
- Male
- Target Recruitment
- 30
The study will include healthy males between 18 and 50 years of age.
They must currently run in conventional running shoes.
The participants will be required to be running between 40 and 60 kilometres (km) per week in the six-month period prior to the study.
The runners also need to have a minimum running experience of two years.
Participants who report any relevant medical or surgical history, including a history of lower limb or lumbar spine injury or pathology within the last three months will be excluded from the study.
Participants already running in minimalist running shoes will also be excluded from the study.
Other exclusion criteria include lower limb alignment abnormalities, including increased Q-angles and leg length discrepancies. Participants who take part in any races over 21.1 km in distance will also be excluded from the study.
If a participant sustains an injury during the 12 week study period, they will not be required to perform further testing.
Study & Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Study Design
- Not specified
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Calf endurance;Muscle flexibility (hamstring);Muscle flexibility (Gastrocnemius);Lower limb muscle power;Foot posture index;Participants' satisfaction with the type of running shoes;Hallux range of motion;Injury prevalence
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Total distance run per week;Total time run per week;RPE scores;BPI scores;Location and severity of injury