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A chilles tendon loading patterns during barefoot walking and slow running on a treadmill: An ultrasonic propagation study
Author(s) -
Wulf M.,
Wearing S. C.,
Hooper S. L.,
Smeathers J. E.,
Horstmann T.,
Brauner T.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of medicine and science in sports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.575
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1600-0838
pISSN - 0905-7188
DOI - 10.1111/sms.12455
Subject(s) - achilles tendon , ground reaction force , ankle , treadmill , cadence , gait , ultrasonic sensor , ultrasound , kinematics , biomechanics , tendon , barefoot , preferred walking speed , materials science , physical medicine and rehabilitation , medicine , anatomy , physics , physical therapy , acoustics , classical mechanics
Measurement of tendon loading patterns during gait is important for understanding the pathogenesis of tendon “overuse” injury. Given that the speed of propagation of ultrasound in tendon is proportional to the applied load, this study used a noninvasive ultrasonic transmission technique to measure axial ultrasonic velocity in the right Achilles tendon of 27 healthy adults (11 females and 16 males; age, 26 ± 9 years; height, 1.73 ± 0.07 m; weight, 70.6 ± 21.2 kg), walking at self‐selected speed (1.1 ± 0.1 m/s), and running at fixed slow speed (2 m/s) on a treadmill. Synchronous measures of ankle kinematics, spatiotemporal gait parameters, and vertical ground reaction forces were simultaneously measured. Slow running was associated with significantly higher cadence, shorter step length, but greater range of ankle movement, higher magnitude and rate of vertical ground reaction force, and higher ultrasonic velocity in the tendon than walking ( P < 0.05). Ultrasonic velocity in the A chilles tendon was highly reproducible during walking and slow running (mean within‐subject coefficient of variation < 2%). Ultrasonic maxima ( P 1, P 2) and minima ( M 1, M 2) were significantly higher and occurred earlier in the gait cycle ( P 1, M 1, and M 2) during running than walking ( P < 0.05). Slow running was associated with higher and earlier peaks in loading of the Achilles tendon than walking.