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DISTANCE RUNNING PELVIS KINEMATICS: SOCCER VS. CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNERS

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Soccer players complete substantial distance running during practice and games. However, soccer player distance running kinematics have received minimal attention in the research literature. In this preliminary study we compare soccer players to distance runners and focus on pelvis kinematics. PURPOSE: Compare distance running kinematics for college cross-country runners and soccer players and determine if there are significant differences total pelvis motion and stride-to-stride variability. METHODS: Participants were 26 Division I cross country runners (15 males, 11 females), and 25 Division I soccer players (15 male, 10 female). Participants completed their preferred warm-up and then ran 3 minutes at an 8-minute/mile pace. Six Vicon Bonita cameras and 3DGAIT software were used to collect kinematic data (200 Hz). Ten strides were used to generate average plots (normalized to 101 data points) for the pelvis motion in the three planes. The 10 plots were averaged to generate an overall waveform for the pelvis in each plane. The total pelvis motion was determined by calculating the range of the waveform. Stride-to-stride variability was determined by calculating the standard deviation across the 10 strides. Dependent t-tests were used to test for significant differences between the runners and soccer players (p=0.05). RESULTS: For total pelvis motion in stance, there was no significant difference (p=0.28) between the runners (13.52°±4.94°) and soccer players (12.05°±4.55°). For stride-to-stride variability, there was a near significant difference (p=0.08) for the sagittal plane. For stride-to-stride variability, there was no significant difference (p=0.61) for the frontal plane. For stride rate, there were no significant difference (p=0.58) between the runners 82.38±5.18 steps/min) and soccer players (83.27±3.02 steps/min). CONCLUSION: We compared college runners to soccer players and did not reveal any significant differences in pelvis kinematics and stride rate. These preliminary findings suggest that soccer players may use similar overall kinematics despite the training discrepancies (limited weekly volume of distance running).

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