Study of joint reaction force, moment and muscle activity of lower limbs during running (Comparison of the rear foot strike and the fore foot strike)

Abstract

In this paper, two foot strike patterns, which are the rear foot strike (RFS) and the fore foot strike (FFS), are compared from the viewpoint of the joint moment, joint reaction force and muscle activity using the actual measurement of running for two subjects. As the results, the landing reaction force has two peaks for RFS while one peak for FFS, and the significant features can be observed in the ankle joint rather than the knee and hip joint. The joint moment of the ankle joint for RFS acts toward the dorsal flexion direction at the beginning of landing, and then toward the plantar flexion direction, while the one for FFS acts toward the plantar flexion direction during landing. The bone-on-bone force for RFS shows two peaks as similar with the landing impact force. For RFS, the Tibialis anterior much works while for FFS, the Gastrocnemius and the Soleus works much. Moreover, the differences of subject A and B are shown as the contribution of joints on the running.

Keywords

• running
• rear foot strike
• fore foot strike
• musculo skeletal model
• joint moment
• muscle activity