Running-related muscle activation patterns and tibial acceleration across puberty

This study examined whether differences exist in tibial acceleration transients and electromyography (EMG) variables during running across female pubertal development. Sixty-four girls classified as pre- (n = 19), early/mid- (n = 22) and late/post-pubertal development (n = 23) ran in a laboratory whilst EMG data were recorded from quadriceps, hamstring and calf muscle groups, and acceleration transients from a triaxial accelerometer. The late/post-pubertal girls exhibited delayed vastus lateralis onset (mean difference (MD) = 0.02, 95% CI = 0.008, 0.34 ms)) compared to pre-pubertal girls, lower vastus lateralis pre-activation (MD = 7.02, 95% CI = 12.63, 1.42%) compared to early/mid-pubertal girls, and longer time to peak (TTP) anterior/posterior (A/P) tibial acceleration compared to pre-pubertal girls (MD = 0.02, 95% CI = 0.006, 0.03 s). By contrast, late/post-pubertal girls demonstrated earlier semitendinosus onset compared to both early/mid- (MD = 0.02, 95% CI = 0.03, 0.005 ms) and pre-pubertal girls (MD = 0.02, 95% CI = 0.04, 0.007 ms). No other between-group differences were found for peak A/P, vertical and TTP vertical tibial acceleration (p > 0.05). Subsequently, regression analysis revealed that EMG variables accounted for approximately 34% (R² = 0.34) of the variance in TTP A/P tibial acceleration. These findings highlight that neuromuscular recruitment patterns and kinetics differ across female pubertal development while running and should be further explored in the context of adolescent female musculoskeletal injuries.