Influence of Core Stability on Running Mechanics in Novice Runners

描述(申请人提供)：增强的核心稳定性，被定义为“在受到干扰后保持或恢复躯干(和骨盆)的平衡位置(或轨迹)的能力”，已被吹捧为在许多运动中改善受伤预防；然而，这种因果关系尚未在经常受到伤害困扰的新手身上进行严格的测试。在美国，跑步被数百万人用来与肥胖作斗争，保持健康的生活方式，但膝股关节痛(PFP)和髂胫束综合征(ITBS)等损伤往往迫使许多跑步者一起退出这项活动。研究仅集中在该地点 受伤(膝盖、脚等)在伤害发生率方面几乎没有变化。此外, 身体质量的大约一半驻留在上半身，对这一质量的控制将影响到下肢所受的力。对躯干和骨盆在跑步中所起的作用缺乏了解，这是在建立预防跑步损伤的范例方面取得进展的关键障碍。我们的全球假设是，核心稳定性的丧失会增加下肢的力量和力矩，这已知会增加跑步者发生PFP和ITBS的风险。在这项建议中，我们将通过(1)来测试核心稳定性在新手跑步者中的作用 开发一种会话内核心稳定性击倒方案，该方案将控制躯干和臀部运动的能力降低25%，而不会使腿部肌肉疲劳，以及(2)确定由于AIM 1中开发的核心肌肉击倒方案而发生的膝部和髋部PFP和ITBS相关负荷的变化。目前，调查跑步损伤的研究的主要限制是依赖长期的多项VSIT研究，这些研究往往受到高辍学率的阻碍。为了完成这项研究，我们将开发一种新的会话内核心肌肉锻炼方案，以降低或“击倒”核心稳定性。然后对25名新手跑步者在该方案前后的跑步生物力学进行评估，以确定核心稳定性的丧失对与PFP和ITBS相关的膝盖和脚踝负荷有何影响。本项目的创新之处在于将现有的测量核心稳定性和下肢生物力学的方法应用和扩展到一个新的应用领域：研究核心稳定性影响下肢损伤风险的生物力学预测指标的机制。此外，我们将开发一种新的核心肌肉击倒方案来建立这一机制。最后，这项应用为长期研究奠定了基础，以比较预防跑步相关伤害的干预措施的有效性。该项目的结果将显著有助于描述核心稳定性丧失是如何导致跑步损伤的，这项工作中将开发的新技术可能有助于未来的生物力学研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Enhanced core stability, defined as "the ability to maintain or resume an equilibrium position (or trajectory) of the trunk (and pelvis) after perturbation", has been touted to improve injury-prevention in many sports; however, this causal relationship has not been critically tested in novice runners, a group often plagued by injuries. Running has been employed by millions of people in the US to battle obesity and maintain a healthy lifestyle, yet injuries such as patellofemoral pain (PFP) and iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) often force many runners to quit the activity all together. Studies focused only on the site of injury (knee, foot, etc.) have yielded little change in the prevalence of injuries. In addition, approximately half of the body's mass resides in the upper body, and control of this mass will impact the forces received by the lower extremities. The lack of understanding of the role that the torso and pelvis play in running represents a critical barrier to progress in the creation of paradigms to prevent running injuries. Our global hypothesis is loss of core stability increases the forces and moments in the lower extremities that are known to increase the risk of PFP and ITBS in runners. In this proposal, we will test the role of core stability in novice runners by (1) developing a within session core stability knockdown protocol that reduces the ability to control movement of the torso and hips by 25% without fatiguing the muscles of the lower extremity, and (2) identifying the changes in PFP- and ITBS-relevant loading at the knee and hip during running that occur due to the core muscle knockdown protocol developed in Aim 1. Currently, a major limitation of studies investigating running injuries is the reliance on long-term, multiple vsit studies that are often hampered by high drop-out rates. To accomplish this research, we will develop a novel within-session core muscle exercise protocol to reduce, or "knock down", core stability. Running biomechanics will then be evaluated before and after this protocol in 25 novice runners to determine how knee and ankle loads associated with PFP and ITBS are influenced by a loss of core stability. The innovation of this project is in the application and expansion of existing methodologies in measuring core stability and lower extremity biomechanics to a novel application: investigating the mechanism by which core stability influences biomechanical predictors of lower extremity injury risk. Moreover, we will develop a novel core muscle knockdown protocol to establish this mechanism. Lastly, this application sets the stage for long-term studies to compare the effectiveness of interventions for the prevention of running-related injuries. The results of this project will significantly contribute to characterizing how the loss f core stability contributes to running injuries, and the novel techniques that will be developed in this work could contribute to future biomechanics studies.