Changes in Running Technique At Shod and Barefoot Running Condition : - An analysis of Muay Thai Fighters

Abstract: Background: everal studies mean that individuals accustomed to running barefoot and habitually barefoot individuals choose a fore foot or mid foot strike rather than a rear foot strike when running. This is partly to do with the proprioceptive feedback given from the soles of the feet. The common denominator of the barefoot runner and the Muay Thai fighter would be this proprioceptive feedback due to general bare foot training. A contributing factor to a non heal strike pattern could perhaps also be found in the sport specific movement pattern of Muay Thai where the athlete is trained to execute several actions from the fore foot. Aim: The first aim was to analyse differences in angles of the knee, ankle and foot at initial contact while running shod compared to barefoot in Muay Thai fighters accustomed to training barefoot. A second aim was to investigate if there was a difference in running technique regarding foot strike pattern when running shod compared to bare foot. The foot strike pattern is defined as heal strike, mid foot strike or forefoot strike. Method: Seventeen Muay Thai fighters (13 male 4 female) volunteered to participate in the test of the cross- sectional experimental study. The study took place at PT-Studion Halmstad. The participants performed 2x3minutes of running shod and barefoot respectively at a subjective speed equal to a 12 on the Borg scale. Both conditions were video recorded from a sagittal plane using an iPhone 6. The dominant leg defined as the non-weight bearing leg at the preferred boxing stance was analysed. Data was collected two-dimensionally of the angels of the knee, ankle and foot position to horizontal. Foot strike pattern was also determined. Landmarks were marked to ease the analysis. T-tests of paired samples were used to examine whether there were any differences between the angle of the knee, ankle and foot at barefoot and shod conditions. The significance level for this study was set to be statistically significant if p ≤ 0.05. Foot strike frequency distributions were compared between shod and barefoot runners using chi-square (X2) analysis. Result: A significant difference at the angle of the foot (p=0,034) at initial contact with the ground while running between shod (12 ± 9) and barefoot (17 ± 9) was found. No significant difference in the angle of the knee (p=0,076) or ankle (p=0,081) was found. Changes in foot strike pattern were observed. At shod condition 88% used a rear foot strike, 6% used a mid foot strike and 6% used a forefoot strike. At barefoot condition 41% used a rear foot strike, 0% used a mid foot strike and 59% a fore foot strike. Conclusion: This study shows that the there is a significant difference in foot strike pattern when running shod and barefoot which confirms previous studies. The test group have in common that they train Muay Thai although; their sport specific training doesn’t appear to in this case have any impact on the foot strike pattern.