Tibial acceleration alone is not a valid surrogate measure of tibial load in response to stride length manipulation

This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between peak tibial acceleration and peak ankle joint contact forces in response to stride length manipulation during level-ground running.

Twenty-seven physically active participants ran 10 trials at preferred speed in each of 5 stride length conditions: preferred, ±5%, and ±10% of preferred stride length. Motion capture, force platform, and tibial acceleration data were directly measured, and ankle joint contact forces were estimated using an inverse-dynamics-based static optimization routine.

In general, peak axial tibial accelerations (p < 0.001) as well as axial (p < 0.001) and resultant (p < 0.001) ankle joint contact forces increased with stride length. When averaged within the 10 strides of each stride condition, moderate positive correlations were observed between peak axial acceleration and joint contact force (r = 0.49) as well as peak resultant acceleration and joint contact force (r = 0.51). However, 37% of participants illustrated either no relationship or negative correlations. Only weak correlations across participants existed between peak axial acceleration and joint contact force (r = 0.12) as well as peak resultant acceleration and ankle joint contact force (r = 0.18) when examined on a step-by-step basis.

These results suggest that tibial acceleration should not be used as a surrogate for ankle joint contact force on a step-by-step basis in response to stride length manipulations during level-ground running. A 10-step averaged tibial acceleration metric may be useful for some runners, but an initial laboratory assessment would be required to identify these individuals.