A comparison of ground reaction forces during running and form skipping
Following lower extremity injury an athlete may be able to walk within days, however they may not be capable of running for weeks or even months. During this time, the athletic trainer provides the athlete with progressions to running. One activity that has been used successfully in this progression is the form skip. It remains unknown why the athlete is capable of successfully performing the form skip before they can run; The purpose of this study was to investigate the ground reaction forces (GRF) during form skipping and running. Healthy subjects (N = 9) ran and skipped across the force platform at a speed of 3.83 mÃ‚Â·s--1 (+/-5%) and 1.75 mÃ‚Â·s--1 (+/-5%) respectively. Three GRF variables were analyzed: average vertical GRF, maximum vertical GRF, and braking impulse normalized for time. Dependent t-tests (alpha = 0.05) determined GRF during running were significantly greater than during skipping. In conclusion, running produces greater GRF than form skipping in healthy subjects.
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