Introduction: Running skill develops during the preschool age. There is little research evidence as to how footstrike patterns are affected by footwear during this important developmental period.
Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare footstrike patterns among different age groups of preschool children running in different footwear conditions.
Methods: Three-dimensional kinetics and kinematics were collected while 48 typically developing children age 3 to 6 yr ran overground at self-selected speed in a barefoot condition and in minimalist and standard running shoes. Children were divided into four age groups (n = 12 per group). The key dependent variables for this study included strike index and sagittal plane ankle angle at footstrike. A two-way mixed ANOVA (3 × 4) was performed to determine possible footwear and age differences in footstrike patterns.
Results: An interaction between footwear condition and age group was found in the ankle angle at footstrike (P = 0.030, η2 = 0.145). There was a main effect within the footwear condition across all age groups for strike index (P = 0.001, η2 = 0.337). The ankle was more plantar flexed in the barefoot and minimalist conditions compared with standard running shoes only in 6-yr-old children (P < 0.05, d > 0.8). In addition, 6-yr-old children had a more plantar flexed ankle than did 3-yr-old children when they ran barefoot (P = 0.008, d = 1.24).
Conclusions: Footstrike pattern is affected by footwear in preschool children. As children get older, their footstrike pattern becomes more non-rearfoot with a more plantar flexed ankle in barefoot and minimalist shoes. On the contrary, the rearfoot-midfoot strike pattern did not change over preschool age when they wore standard running shoes.
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