ArticlePloS one2015
Variation in Foot Strike Patterns among Habitually Barefoot and Shod Runners in Kenya.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- What are the Benefits and Risks Associated with Changing Foot Strike Pattern During Running? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Injury, Running Economy, and Biomechanics.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2020Pooled it
- Effects of minimalist shoes on pelvic floor activity in nulliparous women during running at different velocities: a randomized cross-over clinical trial.Scientific reports · 2022Trial
- Adaptation of Running Biomechanics to Repeated Barefoot Running: A Randomized Controlled Study.The American journal of sports medicine · 2019Trial
- Differences in lower extremity biomechanics, shank muscle activation and medial gastrocnemius-tendon unit behavior between novice and experienced non-rearfoot strike runners.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Electromyographic Activity of the Pelvic Floor Muscles and Internal Oblique Muscles in Women during Running with Traditional and Minimalist Shoes: A Cross-Over Clinical Trial.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Asymmetries of foot strike patterns during running in high-level female and male soccer players.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2023Article
- Which Factors Influence Running Gait in Children and Adolescents? A Narrative Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Review
- Assessing spring-mass similarity in elite and recreational runners.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- Barefoot Running on Grass as a Potential Treatment for Plantar Fasciitis: A Prospective Case Series.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Reversing the Mismatch With Forefoot Striking to Reduce Running Injuries.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2022Article
- Cultural variation in running techniques among non-industrial societies.Evolutionary human sciences · 2022Article
- Variability and the form-function framework in evolutionary biomechanics and human locomotion.Evolutionary human sciences · 2022Review
- Risk Factors for Injuries in Runners: A Systematic Review of Foot Strike Technique and Its Classification at Impact.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2021Review
- Human athletic paleobiology; using sport as a model to investigate human evolutionary adaptation.American journal of physical anthropology · 2020Review
- From barefoot hunter gathering to shod pavement pounding. Where to from here? A narrative review.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2020Review
- Plantar support adaptations in healthy subjects after eight weeks of barefoot running training.PeerJ · 2020Article
- Do Strike Patterns or Shoe Conditions have a Predominant Influence on Foot Loading?Journal of human kinetics · 2018Article
- Heel impact forces during barefoot versus minimally shod walking among Tarahumara subsistence farmers and urban Americans.Royal Society open science · 2018Article
- Foot Strike Patterns Differ Between Children and Adolescents Growing up Barefoot vs. Shod.International journal of sports medicine · 2018Observational
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Runners are often categorized as forefoot, midfoot or rearfoot strikers, but how much and why do individuals vary in foot strike patterns when running on level terrain? This study used general linear mixed-effects models to explore both intra- and inter-individual variations in foot strike pattern among 48 Kalenjin-speaking participants from Kenya who varied in age, sex, body mass, height, running history, and habitual use of footwear. High speed video was used to measure lower extremity kinematics at ground contact in the sagittal plane while participants ran down 13 meter-long tracks with three variables independently controlled: speed, track stiffness, and step frequency. 72% of the habitually barefoot and 32% of the habitually shod participants used multiple strike types, with significantly higher levels of foot strike variation among individuals who ran less frequently and who used lower step frequencies. There was no effect of sex, age, height or weight on foot strike angle, but individuals were more likely to midfoot or forefoot strike when they ran on a stiff surface, had a high preferred stride frequency, were habitually barefoot, and had more experience running. It is hypothesized that strike type variation during running, including a more frequent use of forefoot and midfoot strikes, used to be greater before the introduction of cushioned shoes and paved surfaces.
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