ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Biomechanics and Control of Human Movement
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1610514
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Biomechanics: Enhancing Sports Performance, Mitigating Injury Risks, and Optimizing Athlete Rehabilitation - Volume IIView all 6 articles
Effects of footwear and foot strike patterns on patellofemoral joint and Achilles tendon loading in novice runners and experienced runners
Provisionally accepted
- 1Faculty of Sport Science, Ningbo University, ningbo, China
- 2Research Academy of Grand Health, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China
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Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the differences in the loading characteristics of the patellofemoral joint (PFJ) and the Achilles tendon (AT) between novice and experienced runners across different footwear conditions (conventional versus minimalist shoes) with rearfoot striking (RFS) and forefoot striking (FFS). Methods: Eleven male RFS novice runners and experienced runners were randomly asked to run across a force platform at 12 km/h when wearing conventional and minimalist shoes with RFS and FFS, respectively. AT and PFJ loading were estimated from kinematic and kinetic data. The morphological (length and cross-sectional area) of AT in vivo were recorded using ultrasound imaging. Three-way ANOVA was used to determine differences in PFJ and AT loading characteristics. Results: Patellofemoral contact force and AT impulses were significantly greater (p < 0.05) in novice runners than in experienced runners, regardless of footwear or the foot strike pattern. Regardless of running level, patellofemoral contact force and PFJ stress were significantly lower in FFS than in RFS, whereas AT force, AT impulse, and peak AT stress were significantly greater in FFS than in RFS. Peak impact loading rates were significantly lower in conventional shoes with RFS than in minimalist shoes (p < 0.05). Discussion: Novice runners experienced a significant increase in PFJ and AT loads during running. In addition, FFS increased the impulse, force, and stress on the AT and decreased the PFJ stress. Therefore, novice runners need to gradually adjust their foot strike pattern according to the loading capacity of different joints to reduce the corresponding injury risk.
Keywords: Novice runners, FOOT STRIKE PATTERN, Achilles Tendon, Patellofemoral Joint, minimalist shoes
Received: 12 Apr 2025; Accepted: 05 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Nie, Zhang and Gu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xini Zhang, Faculty of Sport Science, Ningbo University, ningbo, China
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