An Analysis of Lower Body Kinematics in Response to Changes in Speed in World-Class Walkers

Information on how race walkers modulate lower body kinematics with speed is of interest to coaches for developing informed training strategies for elite athletes. Seven male Olympic race walkers volunteered to participate in the study. Twelve optoelectronic cameras (Oqus 7, Qualisys) operating at 250 Hz collected kinematic data as participants race walked at 3 different speeds down the 40 m walkway. Statistical parametric mapping (spm1d.org) was used to compare lower body kinematics in Matlab (R2016b, The Mathworks Inc.). Greater hip flexion (4°) was observed at 80-92% of the gait cycle in the 10 km trials than the training pace trials (p < 0.001, medium effect (0.65)). A more flexed hip during terminal swing in the 10 km trials might be indicative of the 0.08 m increase in step length that was present with increases in race walking speed. At the knee, greater flexion (3°) occurred during the 10 km trials than the training pace trials at 68-73% (p < 0.001, medium effect (0.5)). This study suggests that elite race walkers modulate lower body kinematics by increasing range of motion of the hip and knee as speed increases. Coaches and athletes should consider an individualised approach to this kinematic strategy with respect to the rules of race walking.

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