Compared to competitive runners, recreational runners appear to be more prone to injuries, which have been associated with foot strike patterns. Surprisingly, only few studies had examined the foot strike patterns outside laboratories. Therefore, this study compared the foot strike patterns in recreational runners at outdoor tracks with previously reported data. We also investigated the relationship between foot strike pattern, speed, and footwear in this cohort. Among 434 recreational runners analysed, 89.6% of them landed with rearfoot strike (RFS). Only 6.9 and 3.5% landed with midfoot and forefoot, respectively. A significant shift towards non-RFS was observed in our cohort, when compared with previously reported data. When speed increased by 1 m/s, the odds of having forefoot strike and midfoot strike relative to RFS increased by 2.3 times and 2.6 times, respectively. Runners were 9.2 times more likely to run with a forefoot strike in minimalists compared to regular running shoes, although 70% of runners in minimalists continued to use a RFS. These findings suggest that foot strike pattern may differ across running conditions and runners should consider these factors in order to mitigate potential injury.

Background Neurological injuries or disease can impair the function of motor circuitry controlling forearm supination, and recovery is often limited. Preclinical animal models are essential tools for developing therapeutic interventions to improve motor function after neurological damage. Here we describe the supination assessment task, an automated measure of quantifying forelimb supination in the rat. New Method Animals were trained to reach out of a slot in a cage, grasp a spherical manipulandum, and supinate the forelimb. The angle of the manipulandum was measured using a rotary encoder. If the animal exceeded the predetermined turn angle, a reward pellet was delivered. This automated task provides a large, high-resolution dataset of turn angle over time. Multiple parameters can be measured including success rate, peak turn angle, turn velocity, area under the curve, and number of rotations per trial. The task provides a high degree of flexibility to the user, with both software and hardware parameters capable of being adjusted. Results We demonstrate the supination assessment task can effectively measure significant deficits in multiple parameters of rotational motor function for multiple weeks in two models of ischemic stroke. Comparison with Existing Methods Preexisting motor assays designed to measure forelimb supination in the rat require high-speed video analysis techniques. This operant task provides a high-resolution, quantitative end-point dataset of turn angle, which obviates the necessity of video analysis. Conclusions The supination assessment task represents a novel, efficient method of evaluating forelimb rotation and may help decrease the cost and time of running experiments.