Cues To Land Softly And Quietly Result In Acute Load Rate Reductions In Runners

Prior studies have assessed the effects of using an internal focus of attention (e.g., foot strike pattern) to reduce load rates (LRs) in gait retraining programs for runners. However, limited studies have explored an external focus of attention, such as simply cueing runners to land softly and quietly. PURPOSE: To investigate whether cues to land softly and quietly acutely reduces load rates in injured runners, to a similar degree as forefoot striking while barefoot. METHODS: This study included 37 injured runners (18 male; age = 36 ± 14 yrs). Participants wore inertial measurement units over the distal-medial tibia while running on an instrumented treadmill to collect tibial acceleration and ground reaction forces, respectively. Data were collected for three conditions: 1) Shod-Control, wearing shoes, without cues; 2) Shod-Quiet, wearing shoes, with cues to land softly and quietly; 3) Barefoot-FFS, barefoot, with cues for forefoot striking. The primary outcome was vertical instantaneous LRs. Additionally, differences in the vertical stiffness during initial loading, peak vertical ground reaction force, peak vertical tibial accelerations (TAs), and step rate were assessed. RESULTS: Compared to Shod-Control, cues to land softly and quietly produced reductions in vertical LRs, stiffness, and peak TAs (p < 0.001). The reductions in vertical LRs and stiffness were comparable to those seen in the Barefoot-FFS condition (p > 0.05). However, runners demonstrated additional reductions in TA between the Shod-Quiet and Barefoot-FFS conditions (p < 0.05). The Barefoot-FFS was the only condition that promoted changes in step rate, with increases compared to Shod-Control and Shod-Quiet (p < 0.001) (Table 1). CONCLUSIONS: Cues to land softly and quietly resulted in acute vertical LR reductions in injured runners, similar to those in the Barefoot-FFS condition. A focus on quiet, soft landings may be an effective gait retraining method for future research.