Ankle Joint Kinetics in Runners with Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome

Abstract

METHODS:4 runners diagnosed with mild unilateral AT (4M , 48.8 ± 7.5 yrs, 188.8 ± 11.2 cm, 82.5 ± 11.1 kg) performed a 5 min. treadmill run in the sports medicine clinic, as part of a larger study, with 8 IMU’s at the feet, tibia, upper legs, sacrum and sternum. Ankle and knee angles were determined at initial contact (IC) and mid stance (MS). Additional parameters that were calculated were the vertical lower leg angle at IC (VLL), peak tibial impact (PTA), peak sacral impact (PSA), push-off power (POP) (lin. velocity at toe off, TO) and internal rotation (IR) of the tibia (at TO). Parameters were determined for the injured and non-injured leg at 1-min. intervals. An independent Mann-Whitney U-test was used to test for differences within patients between the injured and non-injured leg. RESULTS: Table 1 CONCLUSIONS:The injured leg of these AT patients showed significantly different running kinematics. AT strongly affected ankle mechanics, possibly as a compensatory strategy, indicating non-full recovery of the patients. The use of IMUs to determine the recovery of AT patients quantitatively is promising. Using IMUs there is no need for 3d optical motion capture systems or an instrumented treadmill to quantify running kinematics. Future research should follow up on these measurements to identify fully recovered patients.