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Musculoskeletal and Sports Medicine

Comparative Biomechanical Strategies of Running Gait Among Healthy and Recently Injured Pediatric and Adult Runners

Friday, October 24, 2025
9:15 AM - 10:30 AM MT
Location: Session Room - 250 DEF
Has Audio

    Poster Presenter(s)

  • Cole Verble, DO

    Resident Physician
    University of Florida College of Medicine PM&R Program - Gainesville, FL
    Gainesville, Florida

    • Co-Author(s)

  • RN

    Ryan Nixon, PhD

    Assistant Scientist
    University of Florida College of Medicine PM&R Program
    Gainesville, Florida

  • KV

    Kevin R. Vincent, MD, PhD

    Attending Physician
    The Orthopaedic Institute
    Alachua, Florida

  • Heather K. Vincent, MS, PhD

    Director of Sports Medicine Research
    United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee
    Gainesville, Florida

Disclosure(s):
Cole Verble, DO: No financial relationships to disclose
Heather K. Vincent, MS, PhD: No financial relationships to disclose
Background and/or Objectives: It remains unclear how running gait strategies differ by injury status among pediatric ( < 18 yrs) and adult runners (18-35 yrs). The objective was to identify biomechanical strategies in gait among healthy and recently injured pediatric and adult runners.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting : Sports Performance Center, quaternary care institution.

Participants : 256 runners with recent injury (pediatric n=91, adult n=78) or without (pediatric n=22, adult n=65).

Interventions: NA

Main Outcome Measures: Spatiotemporal, kinetic parameters (ground reaction forces [GRF], vertical average loading rate [VALR]) and kinematic parameters, vertical leg stiffness (Kvert) were obtained while individuals ran at self-selected speed on an instrumented treadmill with simultaneous 3D motion capture. Univariate analyses of covariance were used to compare groups, accounting for running velocity.

Results: Significant age*injury status interactions existed for cadence, Kvert, peak GRF, and specific peak joint angles in stance. Injured pediatric runners produced less sagittal plane flexion at the pelvis, knee and hip but more plantarflexion than healthy counterparts whereas injured adult runners demonstrated the opposite finding. Cadence was 2% greater in injured pediatric runners and 3% slower in injured adult runners compared to healthy counterparts (p=0.036). Peak GRF were higher in injured pediatric but lower in injured adult runners versus healthy counterparts (2.56±0.32 BW vs 2.48±0.24 BW and 2.42±0.33 BW vs 2.51±0.34 BW, respectively; p=0.035). Injured pediatric runners had 4% higher Kvert than healthy counterparts; injured adult runners had 11.7% lower Kvert (p=.009). VALR was greater in pediatric versus adult runners, but not by injury status (72.5 BW/s vs 64.8 BW/s).

Conclusions: Pediatric runners do not leverage force dampening strategies during, whereas injured adult runners had lower step turnover and reduced peak ground reaction forces, indicating a shift toward force mitigation strategies during the stance phase. These findings support the need for age-specific rehabilitation and gait retraining approaches in runners.