Speed-Cadence Association And Stature During Running Bouts In 18-20 Year Olds

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated relationships between speed, stature, and sex with cadence (steps/min) during running. METHODS: Stature (height, in cm) was measured using a stadiometer. Participants completed at least one 5-min treadmill running bout in a larger study of walking/running. Observed steps were hand-tallied. A linear mixed effects model was fitted to explain cadence, accounting for multiple bouts per participant using a participant random intercept, and with covariates sex, speed, and height. Backward elimination variable selection was used to model relationships. Visualizations were created to demonstrate associations uncovered within the final linear mixed effects model. They corresponded to the cadence expected value (and 95% CI) for each value of the included covariates, as well as a 3-dimensional surface equivalent of the aforementioned graphs. RESULTS: Forty-nine participants (mean age = 19.16 ± SD 0.78 years, 38.8% female, mean height = 170.77 ± SD 9.51 cm) completed 138 5-min running bouts ranging from 2.5-6.0 mph. The initial model showed that neither sex (p = 0.99) nor height (p = 0.153) was statistically significant, although speed (p < 0.0001) was significantly associated with cadence accounting for these other variables. In the final model, sex was removed. Controlling for height, speed was significantly associated with cadence (p < 0.001), and there was a trend toward significance (p = 0.056) for height when accounting for speed. The marginal r-squared for the fixed effects indicated that 32.6% of the variability in cadence was explained by the fixed effects of speed and height. CONCLUSION: With a trend toward a significant association between stature and cadence when accounting for speed in this limited sample, further exploration is warranted. Overall, this study highlights the potential for personalized approaches to describing the relationship between running cadence and stature in young adults. This study is funded by NIH NICHD R01HD105768.