Abstract
Purpose
We investigated the influence of a change in stride frequency on physiological and perceptual responses during forward and backward running at different body weight support (BWS) levels.
Methods
Participants ran forward and backward at 0% BWS, 20% BWS, and 50% BWS conditions on a lower body positive pressure treadmill. The stride frequency conditions consisted of forward and backward running at preferred stride frequency (PSF), PSF + 10%, and PSF-10%. We measured oxygen uptake (\(\dot{V}\)O2), carbon dioxide production, heart rate (HR), muscle activity from the lower extremity, and rating of perceived exertion (RPE). Furthermore, we calculated the metabolic cost of transport (CoT).
Results
\(\dot{V}\)O2, HR, CoT, and muscle activity from the rectus femoris were significantly different between stride frequency conditions (P < 0.05). \(\dot{V}\)O2, HR, and CoT during running at PSF + 10% were significantly higher than when running at PSF, regardless of running direction and BWS (P < 0.05). However, RPE was not different between stride frequency conditions (P > 0.05: e.g., 12.8–13.8 rankings in RPE for backward running at 0% BWS).
Conclusions
Manipulation of stride frequency during running may have a greater impact on physiological responses than on perceptual responses at a given speed, regardless of running direction and BWS. Individuals who need to increase their physiological demands during running may benefit from a 10% increase in stride frequency from the PSF, regardless of BWS and running direction.
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Abbreviations
- BWS:
-
Body weight support
- CoT:
-
Cost of transport
- EMG:
-
Electromyography
- HR:
-
Heart rate
- LBPP:
-
Lower body positive pressure
- partial η2 :
-
Partial eta-squared
- PSF:
-
Preferred stride frequency
- RPE:
-
Rating of perceived exertion
- \(\dot{V}\)O2 :
-
Oxygen uptake
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Funding
This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP16K01663).
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KM and JAM conceived and designed the research. KM, DD, ACJ, and JAM conducted the experiments. KM and JAM analyzed the data. KM and JAM wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of manuscript.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (University Institutional Review Board of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, United States, code:1104369-4) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Communicated by Jean-René Lacour.
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Masumoto, K., Denton, D., Craig-Jones, A. et al. The effects of stride frequency manipulation on physiological and perceptual responses during backward and forward running with body weight support. Eur J Appl Physiol 120, 1519–1530 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04380-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04380-y