Title	Biomechanical gait evaluation of the effects of colored medial arch support on running on inclined surface
Authors	Pak, Lok Yee
Advisors	Leung, Aaron Kl
Degree	Undergraduate
Issue Date	2018
Absctract	Background: Running is a popular recreational exercise because of its convenience. However, athletes often experience running-related injuries due to the high repetitive loading. As such, manufacturers often prescribe orthotic insoles in footwear and advertise their products with the benefit of injury prevention. Medial arch support inserts are commonly used as it is believed to control foot pronation and may reduce the risk of injuries effectively. Furthermore, color psychology was found to enhance the effectiveness of muscle strength training and it is speculated that colors may lessen the possibility of injuries by altering the biomechanics of runners. In addition, inclined running is frequently used for endurance training purpose and the biomechanics change with various inclinations. It is implicated that biomechanics related to injuries may change differently with the effect of inclinations and designs of insoles. Due to these reasons, further investigation is needed. Method: Fourteen male recreational runners ran with different tested conditions on the treadmill in 3 ms-1 and their running biomechanics were collected. Three treadmill inclinations (0°, 3° and 6°) and four insoles designs (flat insoles in white and medial arch support in red, blue and white) were tested. VICON Nexus 2.5 system and Bertec Fully Instrumented Treadmill were used to collect kinetic and kinematic data respectively. Ground reaction force, maximum loading rate, ankle and knee joint kinematics and spatial-temporal parameters were included. Data were then normalized and analyzed using Visual 3D. Two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures followed by LSD post hoc test were used for statistical analysis and comparisons were made between different designs of insoles and treadmill inclinations. Results: Ground reaction force, maximum loading rate, vertical oscillation and inversion-eversion range of motion reduced significantly with the increase of inclinations. Contact time, dorsiflexion in initial contact and stride frequency were found to increase significantly with steeper slopes. With the application of medial arch support, statistically significant increases were noted in dorsiflexion in initial contact, maximum eversion, contact time and knee flexion range of motion as well. However, differences were not observed among different colors of arch support. Conclusion: Different biomechanical parameters were compared and findings imply that colors of insoles do not contribute to the biomechanics of runners. Regarding the clinically insignificant difference in all tested parameters, it was shown that the effect of medial arch support on injuries-related parameters is limited. However, results also showed injury-related forces, vertical oscillations, ankle instability were reduced with the increase of inclinations. It can be concluded that the influence of different designs of insoles on biomechanics of runners is insignificant, but inclined running appears to improve the biomechanical parameters that associated with running-related injuries.
Subjects	Gait in humans Athletic shoes -- Health aspects Running injuries -- Prevention Foot -- Wounds and injuries -- Prevention
Publisher	Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Rights	All rights reserved.