Sex differences in lower extremity kinematics and patellofemoral kinetics during running

Abstract

The incidence of patellofemoral pain (PFP) is 2 times greater in females compared with males of similar activity levels; however, the exact reason for this discrepancy remains unclear. Abnormal mechanics of the hip and knee in the sagittal, frontal, and transverse planes have been associated with an increased risk of PFP. The purpose of this study was to compare the mechanics of the lower extremity in males and females during running in order to better understand the reason(s) behind the sex discrepancy in PFP. Three-dimensional kinematic and kinetic data were collected as male and female participants completed overground running trials at a speed of 4.0 m · s (±5%). Patellofemoral joint stress (PFJS) was estimated using a sagittal plane knee model. The kinematics of the hip and knee in the frontal and transverse planes were also analysed. Male participants demonstrated significantly greater sagittal plane peak PFJS in comparison with the female participants (P < .001, ES = 1.9). However, the female participants demonstrated 3.5° greater peak hip adduction and 3.4° greater peak hip internal rotation (IR). As a result, it appears that the sex discrepancy in PFP is more likely to be related to differences in the kinematics of the hip in the frontal and transverse planes than differences in sagittal plane PFJS.

The number of strides required for treadmill running gait analysis is unaffected by either speed or run duration

“…Multiple trials are therefore required to gather enough data for analysis. In these circumstances it is difficult to standardise the running speed with studies often allowing a speed variation of between ±5% to 10% of the designated running speed (Almonroeder & Benson, 2016;Riley et al, 2008;Sinclair et al, 2013). Moreover, the time taken to record multiple contacts will enable recovery to occur, possibly precluding the examination of fatigue effects (Froyd, Millet, & Noakes, 2013).…”

Influence of the Powers™ strap on pain and lower limb biomechanics in individuals with patellofemoral pain

“…Furthermore, the hip external rotation angle increased significantly during running and the single leg squat task in individuals with PFP. These findings are important because PFP can be associated with excessive hip internal rotation [13,17,32,33]. Increased hip internal rotation can lead to peak patella shear stress, an increased lateral patellar tilt and displacement resulting in increased patellofemoral contact pressure [8,[34][35][36].…”

Fatigue Monitoring in Running Using Flexible Textile Wearable Sensors

“…Five healthy, pain-free female recreational runners participated in this study. The selection of female participants was due to known differences in kinematics between male and female runners [ 45 , 46 ]. To obtain a homogenous sample, participants were selected based on running experience and recent performance in a 10-kilometer race.…”