s research had found that individuals with tibial stress fractures tend to land harder when each foot hits the ground, and in fact about half of the at-risk runners who have completed the study so far already had experienced microfractures. During their retraining sessions, the runners wore a shock measuring device on their lower legs while they ran on a tread mill. A monitor on the front of the treadmill showed the force of each footstrike measured against a line of what a normal, healthy footstrike should look like. The runners task was to constantly adjust the force with which each of their own feet hit the ground to keep it at or below the line on the screen.

With this feedback, all runners immediately were able to modify the hardness of their footstrike to meet the desired level, but all reported that the softer footstrike level did not "feel normal." By the end of the eighth session, however, even when they were receiving relatively little feedback, all runners had adjusted the force of their footstrike by half. Furthermore, they reported that they found the new gait now felt more normal.

The runners experiencing pain under the kneecap followed the same protocol. Dr. Davis earlier gait mechanics studies had found that individuals with kneecap pain (patellofemoral pain syndrome) demonstrate poor hip stability, hips rotating inward, causing a knock-kneed type running gait. On the laboratory treadmill, these runners watched a monitor that compared their gait, measured by markers on their legs, to a normal angular curve.

By keeping their knees apart, not letting them collapse inward, they soon were able to make the two images merge. Before retraining, the group had classified their kneecap pain from five to seven on a ten point scale, ten being the worst. In every case, after retraining, the runners reported zero pain.

A month after the retraining, during which runners had resumed their regular running schedule, they
'"/>

Contact: Sylvia Wrobel
ebpress@bellsouth.net
770-270-0989
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
30-Apr-2007

Page: 1 2 3
Related medicine news :

1. Dartmouths alternative breast imaging techniques sort abnormal from normal tissue
2. Wide range of sleep-related disorders associated with abnormal sexual behaviors, experiences
3. Both minor and major ECG abnormalities linked with increased risk of cardiovascular events in women
4. Heart failure: Mayo Clinic reveals abnormality in filling of the heart is frequent culprit
5. Use of helical MDCT better at detecting abnormal airways
6. Acne medication associated with abnormal blood test results
7. Link between autism and abnormal blood-vessel function and oxidative stress
8. Early puberty may mean anxiety, abnormal eating behaviors later
9. Consumption of fish oil does not appear to protect against abnormal heart rhythms
10. Warfarin remains gold-standard for preventing stroke in patients with heart abnormality
11. When a childs heart stops, onset time of abnormal rhythms is crucial