Relation between running injury and static lower limb alignment in recreational runners
original abstract†Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
OBJECTIVES: To determine if measurements of static lower limb alignment are related to lower limb injury in recreational runners.
METHODS: Static lower limb alignment was prospectively measured in 87 recreational runners. They were observed for the following six months for any running related musculoskeletal injuries of the lower limb. Injuries were defined according to six types: R1, R2, and R3 injuries caused a reduction in running mileage for one day, two to seven days, or more than seven days respectively; S1, S2, and S3 injuries caused stoppage of running for one day, two to seven days, or more than seven days respectively.
RESULTS: At least one lower limb injury was suffered by 79% of the runners during the observation period. When the data for all runners were pooled, 95% confidence intervals calculated for the differences in the measurements of lower limb alignment between the injured and non-injured runners suggested that there were no differences. However, when only runners diagnosed with patellofemoral pain syndrome (n = 6) were compared with non-injured runners, differences were found in right ankle dorsiflexion (0.3 to 6.1), right knee genu varum (-0.9 to -0.3), and left forefoot varus (-0.5 to -0.4).
CONCLUSIONS: In recreational runners, there is no evidence that static biomechanical alignment measurements of the lower limbs are related to lower limb injury except patellofemoral pain syndrome. However, the effect of static lower limb alignment may be injury specific.
related content
- “Suspected Mechanisms in the Cause of Overuse Running Injuries: A Clinical Review,” an article in Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach, 2009.
- “Lower limb alignment characteristics are not associated with running injuries in runners: Prospective cohort study,” an article in Eur J Sport Sci, 2016.
These two articles on PainScience.com cite Lun 2004 as a source:
- PS Iliotibial Band & Patellofemoral Pain Defy Biomechanical Expectations — The science shows that you can’t blame runner’s knee on structural quirks that seem like “obvious” problems
- PS Your Back Is Not Out of Alignment — Debunking the obsession with alignment, posture, and other biomechanical bogeymen as major causes of pain
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