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Practitioners have for many years argued that athletic sprinters should optimise front-side mechanics (leg motions occurring in front of the extended line through the torso) and minimise backside mechanics. This study aimed to investigate if variables related to front-and backside mechanics can be distinguished from other previously highlighted kinematic variables (spatiotemporal variables and variables related to segment configuration and velocities at touchdown) in how they statistically predict performance. Twenty-four competitive sprinters (age 23.1 ±3.4 yr, height 1.81 ±0.06 m, body mass 75.7 ±5.6 kg, 100-m personal best 10.86 ±0.22 s) performed two 20-m starts from block and 2-3 flying sprints over 20 m. Kinematics were recorded in 3D using a motion tracking system with 21 cameras at a 250 Hz sampling rate. Several front-and backside variables, including thigh-(r=0.64) and knee angle (r=0.51) at lift-off, and maximal thigh extension (r=0.66), were largely correlated (p<0.05) with accelerated running performance (ARP), and these variables displayed significantly higher correlations (p<0.05) to ARP than nearly all the other analysed variables. However, the relationship directions for most front-and backside variables during accelerated running were opposite compared to how the theoretical concept has been described. Horizontal ankle velocity, contact time and step rate displayed significantly higher correlation values to maximal velocity sprinting (MVS) than the other variables (p<0.05), and neither of the included front-and backside variables were significantly associated with MVS. Overall, the present findings did not support that front-side mechanics were crucial for sprint performance among the investigated sprinters.

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Longitudinal midsole bending stiffness and elasticity are two critical features in the construction of running shoes. Stiff elastic materials (eg, carbon fiber) can be used to alter the midsole bending behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of midsole stiffness and elasticity manipulation on metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint mechanics during running in 19 male subjects at 3.5 m/s. Midsole bending stiffness and elasticity were modified by means of carbon fiber insoles of varying thickness. Stiffening the shoe structures around the MTP joint caused a shift of the point of force application toward the front edge of the shoe-ground interface. Negative work was significantly reduced for the stiffest shoe condition and at the same time a significant increase of positive work at the MTP joint was found. It seems plausible that the increase in positive work originates from the reutilization of elastic energy that was stored inside the passive elastic structures of the shoe and toe flexing muscle tendon units. Further, an increase in midsole longitudinal bending stiffness seems to alter the working conditions and mechanical power generation capacities of the MTP plantar flexing muscle tendon units by changing ground reaction force leverage and MTP angular velocity.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the forces applied to the starting blocks and the start performances (SPs) of amputee sprinters (ASs) and non-amputee sprinters (NASs). SPs of 154 male and female NASs (100-m personal records [PRs], 9.58–14.00 s) and 7 male ASs (3 unilateral above knee, 3 unilateral below knee, 1 bilateral below knee; 100 m PRs, 11.70–12.70 s) with running specific prostheses (RSPs) were analysed during full-effort sprint starts using instrumented starting blocks that measured the applied forces in 3D. Using the NAS dataset and a combination of factor analysis and multiple regression techniques, we explored the relationship between force characteristics and SP (quantified by normalized average horizontal block power). Start kinetics were subsequently compared between ASs and NASs who were matched based on their absolute 100 m PR and their 100 m PR relative to the world record in their starting class. In NASs, 86% of the variance in SP was shared with five latent factors on which measured parameters related to force application to the rear and front blocks and the respective push-off directions in the sagittal plane of motion were loaded. Mediolateral force application had little influence on SP. The SP of ASs was significantly reduced compared to that of NASs matched on the basis of relative 100-m PR (−33.8%; d = 2.11, p < 0.001), while a non-significant performance reduction was observed when absolute 100-m PRs were used (−17.7%; d = 0.79, p = 0.09). These results are at least partially explained by the fact that force application to the rear block was clearly impaired in the affected legs of ASs.

Insects show a great variety of mouthpart and muscle configurations; however, knowledge of their mouthpart kinematics and muscle activation patterns is fragmentary. Understanding the role of muscle groups during movement and comparing them between insect groups could yield insights into evolutionary patterns and functional constraints. Here, we developed a mathematical inverse dynamic model including distinct muscles for an insect head-mandiblemuscle complex based on micro-computed tomography (µCT) data and bite force measurements. With the advent of µCT, it is now possible to obtain precise spatial information about muscle attachment areas and head capsule construction in insects. Our model shows a distinct activation pattern for certain fibre groups potentially related to a geometry-dependent optimization. Muscle activation patterns suggest that intramandibular muscles play a minor role in bite force generation, which is a potential reason for their loss in several lineages of higher insects. Our model is in agreement with previous studies investigating fast and slow muscle fibres and is able to resolve the spatio-temporal activation patterns of these different muscle types in insects. The model used here has a high potential for large-scale comparative analyses on the role of different muscle setups and head capsule designs in the megadiverse insects in order to aid our understanding of insect head capsule and mouthpart evolution under mechanical constraints.