Effects of Running Shoe Sole Hardness on Vibration and Neuromuscular Fatigue During a Half-marathon Run on a Treadmill

Effects of Running Shoe Sole Hardness on Vibration and Neuromuscular Fatigue During a Half-marathon Run on a Treadmill

During running, each contact between the foot and the ground causes an impact. Ground reaction forces (GRF) are considered as an input into the musculoskeletal system. It involves a sudden deceleration in the lower limb packages (including muscles) which generates Soft-Tissue Vibrations (STV). The body is able to attenuate Soft-Tissue Vibrations (STV) but this capability decreases with fatigue. STV could be minimize by improving shoe midsole hardness.

Only 4 studies have studied Soft-Tissue Vibrations (STV) with a distance not exceeding 10 km and without evaluating the potential influence of the shoe. Thus, the effects of shoe midsole hardness on Soft-Tissue Vibrations (STV) and neuromuscular fatigue at the end of an intense and/or long run remains unknown.

The purpose is to compare two shoes whose only midsole hardness differs during a half-marathon on Soft-Tissue Vibrations (STV), neuromuscular fatigue and running kinetics.

Maybe the shoe ensuring a better STV damping of the medial gastrocnemius muscle would reduce neuromuscular fatigue and improve comfort.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Endurance runners doing a long run of at least 20 km once a week.
• Affiliated or beneficiaries of a social security plan.
• Have freely given their written consent.
• Not participating in a competition during the study period.
• Shoe size 37 to 46

Exclusion Criteria:

• Any subject who has been injured in the 3 months preceding the protocol
• Any subject with chronic joint pathologies (e.g., repeated sprains, patellar or ligament problems) or cardiac pathologies.
• Any subject with chronic or central neurological pathologies
• Any subject participating at the same time in another medical interventional experiment
• Any subject who has taken corticosteroids within 3 months (inhalation, infiltration or history of prolonged corticosteroid therapy).
• Any subject deprived of liberty or under legal protection (guardianship, curatorship, safeguard of justice, family habilitation).
• Any subject declaring to have taken products prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency