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Comparisons of Age-Related Changes in Impact Characteristics Between Healthy Older and Younger Runners

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there are any age-related differences in impact characteristics during running between healthy older and younger men. Ten healthy older (age: 58.7 ± 2.5 years) male and ten healthy younger (age: 22.3 ± 1.6 years) male recreational runners ran on a treadmill at three different running speeds (i.e. 2.2 m/s, 2.8 m/s, and 3.2 m/s). Tri-axial accelerometers (Noraxon, USA) were firmly attached to the tibia and the sternum. Gait parameters, three-dimensional peak tibial accelerations, peak sternum accelerations and shock attenuation were calculated during the stance phase of running. The ANOVA repeated measures was applied at an alpha level of .05. Older runners showed greater impact on the sternum, leading to reduced shock attenuation compared with younger runners (p < .05). In addition, older runners showed a shorter lag between peak resultant accelerations experienced by the upper body and peak acceleration experienced by the lower leg compared with younger runners (p < .05). This study suggests that the intensity (i.e. speed and duration) and types of exercise should be carefully considered for older adults because of lower shock attenuation of the body and changes in coordination strategy between the segments in high-impact activities like running.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by Korea government (MSIT) (Grant number: 2019RIF1A1061371) and Fila Holdings (Seoul, Korea). We thank Junghyun Woo, Msc, for data collection and analysis and Donna Mae Humber for her professional editing for the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Motion Innovation Centre, Institute of Sport Science, Korea National Sport University, Seoul, Korea

    Sang-Kyoon Park, Sihyun Ryu, Young-Seong Lee & Jiseon Ryu

  2. Human Performance Laboratory, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

    Sang-Kyoon Park & Darren Stefanyshyn

  3. Fila Lab. FILA Holdings, Busan, Korea

    Hojong Gil

  4. Sila University, Busan, Korea

    Jongbin Kim

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Park, SK., Stefanyshyn, D., Ryu, S. et al. Comparisons of Age-Related Changes in Impact Characteristics Between Healthy Older and Younger Runners. Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf. 23, 1465–1476 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-022-00720-4

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