The effect of footwear on muscle activation during exercise induced-fatigue

Saad, Mohamed (2019) The effect of footwear on muscle activation during exercise induced-fatigue. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This study investigates the effect of wearing two different types of running footwear: minimalist (MIN), 178g, versus shod, (SH), 349g on lower limb muscle activation during exercise-induced fatigue. Ten well-trained long-distance runners (aged 29.0±7.5; BMI 38.6 ± 6.5 kg m⁻²; Volume oxygen uptake (VO₂max) 61.6±7.3 mL min⁻¹ Kg⁻¹) partook in the study. The participants ran seven (7 X 1000 m) high-intensity running intervals at speeds within 94 - 97% of their maximal aerobic capacity. These fatiguing trials were completed on a 200-m, unbanked Mondo surface indoor running track. Electromyography (EMG) was recorded from five lower limb muscles: biceps femoris, medial gastrocnemius, gluteus maximus, tibialis anterior, and vastus lateral. The integrated EMG (iEMG) and root mean square (RMS), EMG frequency and Stride Frequency were compared for the two running conditions. Findings reveal that the only statistically significant main effect of the shoe occurred in iEMG (F (₁, ₉) = 6.137, P = .035), and RMS (F (₁, ₉) = .5.573, P = .043) for the medial gastrocnemius as a function of wearing MIN. In addition, there was only a main effect of the shoe on the stride frequency (F (₁, ₉) = 9.151, P = .014) as a function of wearing MIN. The mean stride frequency values were higher in MIN conditions (92.800 stride/minutes) compared to SH conditions (90.600 stride/minutes). This study suggests that MIN footwear used in this study did not affect EMG amplitude (iEMG and RMS) or EMG frequency of lower limb muscles during exercise-induced fatigue when compared to SH due to low minimalist index. Additionally, results showed that MIN footwear increased stride frequency compared with SH footwear.

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