Background: Although anthropometric factors could influence sprint performance in able-bodied sprinters, little is known about the relationships between these anthropometric factors and sprint performance in amputee sprinters.
Objectives: To investigate the relationships between body height and spatiotemporal parameters of 100-m sprints in unilateral transtibial amputee and able-bodied sprinters.
Study design: This is a cross-sectional study.
Methods: We analyzed elite-level 100-m races of 14 male unilateral transtibial amputee sprinters and 22 male able-bodied sprinters from publicly available Internet broadcasts. For each sprinter's run, the mean step length and frequency were determined using the number of steps in conjunction with the official race time. Furthermore, body height data for sprinters in both groups were obtained from publicly available resources.
Results: Linear relationships were found between body height and mean step length and frequency in able-bodied sprinters, respectively. However, there were no significant relationships between body height and spatiotemporal parameters in transtibial amputee sprinters.
Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the relationship between body height and spatiotemporal parameters during a 100-m sprint is not the same between unilateral transtibial amputees and able-bodied sprinters. Clinical relevance Understanding of the relationship between body height and spatiotemporal parameters during a 100-m sprint would provide important information that could be utilized for evaluating prosthetic sprint performance and coaching.
Keywords: Prosthetic sprinting; running-specific prostheses; step frequency; step length.