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The Effects of Habitual Foot Strike Patterns on the Morphology and Mechanical Function of the Medial Gastrocnemius–Achilles Tendon Unit

As a crucial and vulnerable component of the lower extremities, the medial gastrocnemius–Achilles tendon unit (gMTU) plays a significant role in sport performance and injury prevention during long-distance running. However, how habitual foot strike patterns influence the morphology of the gMTU remai...

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Autores principales: Li, Lu, Wu, Kaicheng, Deng, Liqin, Liu, Cuixian, Fu, Weijie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9952108/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36829758
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering10020264
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author Li, Lu
Wu, Kaicheng
Deng, Liqin
Liu, Cuixian
Fu, Weijie
author_facet Li, Lu
Wu, Kaicheng
Deng, Liqin
Liu, Cuixian
Fu, Weijie
author_sort Li, Lu
collection PubMed
description As a crucial and vulnerable component of the lower extremities, the medial gastrocnemius–Achilles tendon unit (gMTU) plays a significant role in sport performance and injury prevention during long-distance running. However, how habitual foot strike patterns influence the morphology of the gMTU remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effects of two main foot strike patterns on the morphological and mechanical characteristics of the gMTU. Long-distance male runners with habitual forefoot (FFS group, n = 10) and rearfoot strike patterns (RFS group, n = 10) and male non-runners (NR group, n = 10) were recruited. A Terason uSmart 3300 ultrasonography system was used to image the medial gastrocnemius (MG) and Achilles tendon, Image J software to analyze the morphology, and a dynamometer to determine plantar flexion torque during maximal voluntary isometric contractions. The participants first performed a 5-minute warm up; then, the morphological measurements of MG and AT were recorded in a static condition; finally, the MVICs test was conducted to investigate the mechanical function of the gMTU. One-way ANOVA and nonparametric tests were used for data analysis. The significance level was set at a p value of <0.05. The muscle fascicle length (FL) (FFS: 67.3 ± 12.7, RFS: 62.5 ± 7.6, NRs: 55.9 ± 2.0, η2 = 0.187), normalized FL (FFS: 0.36 ± 0.48, RFS: 0.18 ± 0.03, NRs: 0.16 ± 0.01, η2 = 0.237), and pennation angle (PA) (FFS: 16.2 ± 1.9, RFS: 18.9 ± 2.8, NRs: 19.3 ± 2.4, η2 = 0.280) significantly differed between the groups. Specifically, the FL and normalized FL were longer in the FFS group than in the NR group (p < 0.05), while the PA was smaller in the FFS group than in the NR group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Long-term running with a forefoot strike pattern could significantly affect the FL and PA of the MG. A forefoot strike pattern could lead to a longer FL and a smaller PA, indicating an FFS pattern could protect the MG from strain under repetitive high loads.
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spelling pubmed-99521082023-02-25 The Effects of Habitual Foot Strike Patterns on the Morphology and Mechanical Function of the Medial Gastrocnemius–Achilles Tendon Unit Li, Lu Wu, Kaicheng Deng, Liqin Liu, Cuixian Fu, Weijie Bioengineering (Basel) Article As a crucial and vulnerable component of the lower extremities, the medial gastrocnemius–Achilles tendon unit (gMTU) plays a significant role in sport performance and injury prevention during long-distance running. However, how habitual foot strike patterns influence the morphology of the gMTU remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effects of two main foot strike patterns on the morphological and mechanical characteristics of the gMTU. Long-distance male runners with habitual forefoot (FFS group, n = 10) and rearfoot strike patterns (RFS group, n = 10) and male non-runners (NR group, n = 10) were recruited. A Terason uSmart 3300 ultrasonography system was used to image the medial gastrocnemius (MG) and Achilles tendon, Image J software to analyze the morphology, and a dynamometer to determine plantar flexion torque during maximal voluntary isometric contractions. The participants first performed a 5-minute warm up; then, the morphological measurements of MG and AT were recorded in a static condition; finally, the MVICs test was conducted to investigate the mechanical function of the gMTU. One-way ANOVA and nonparametric tests were used for data analysis. The significance level was set at a p value of <0.05. The muscle fascicle length (FL) (FFS: 67.3 ± 12.7, RFS: 62.5 ± 7.6, NRs: 55.9 ± 2.0, η2 = 0.187), normalized FL (FFS: 0.36 ± 0.48, RFS: 0.18 ± 0.03, NRs: 0.16 ± 0.01, η2 = 0.237), and pennation angle (PA) (FFS: 16.2 ± 1.9, RFS: 18.9 ± 2.8, NRs: 19.3 ± 2.4, η2 = 0.280) significantly differed between the groups. Specifically, the FL and normalized FL were longer in the FFS group than in the NR group (p < 0.05), while the PA was smaller in the FFS group than in the NR group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Long-term running with a forefoot strike pattern could significantly affect the FL and PA of the MG. A forefoot strike pattern could lead to a longer FL and a smaller PA, indicating an FFS pattern could protect the MG from strain under repetitive high loads. MDPI 2023-02-17 /pmc/articles/PMC9952108/ /pubmed/36829758 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering10020264 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Li, Lu
Wu, Kaicheng
Deng, Liqin
Liu, Cuixian
Fu, Weijie
The Effects of Habitual Foot Strike Patterns on the Morphology and Mechanical Function of the Medial Gastrocnemius–Achilles Tendon Unit
title The Effects of Habitual Foot Strike Patterns on the Morphology and Mechanical Function of the Medial Gastrocnemius–Achilles Tendon Unit
title_full The Effects of Habitual Foot Strike Patterns on the Morphology and Mechanical Function of the Medial Gastrocnemius–Achilles Tendon Unit
title_fullStr The Effects of Habitual Foot Strike Patterns on the Morphology and Mechanical Function of the Medial Gastrocnemius–Achilles Tendon Unit
title_full_unstemmed The Effects of Habitual Foot Strike Patterns on the Morphology and Mechanical Function of the Medial Gastrocnemius–Achilles Tendon Unit
title_short The Effects of Habitual Foot Strike Patterns on the Morphology and Mechanical Function of the Medial Gastrocnemius–Achilles Tendon Unit
title_sort effects of habitual foot strike patterns on the morphology and mechanical function of the medial gastrocnemius–achilles tendon unit
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9952108/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36829758
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering10020264
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