Synergic control of vertical body oscillation during stance phase of treadmill running

Mateus S. Dias; Sandra M. S. F. Freitas; Paulo B. de Freitas

doi:10.20338/bjmb.v19i1.444

Synergic control of vertical body oscillation during stance phase of treadmill running

Authors

Mateus S. Dias Laboratório de Análise do Movimento (LAM), Instituto de Ciências da Atividade Física e Esporte (ICAFE), Programa de Pós-Graduação Interdisciplinar em Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul, São Paulo, SP, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3247-1988
Sandra M. S. F. Freitas Laboratório de Análise do Movimento (LAM), Programa de Mestrado e Doutorado em Fisioterapia, Universidade Cidade de São Paulo (UNICID), São Paulo, SP, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1973-9019
Paulo B. de Freitas Laboratório de Análise do Movimento (LAM), Instituto de Ciências da Atividade Física e Esporte (ICAFE), Programa de Pós-Graduação Interdisciplinar em Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul, São Paulo, SP, Brazil - defreitaspb@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0406-041X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20338/bjmb.v19i1.444

Keywords:

Center of mass, Coordination, Motor abundance, Uncontrolled manifold hypothesis, Synergy

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Stabilization of the vertical body oscillation is important to running efficiency and performance and might be affected by running speed.

AIM: We used the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) framework to test whether there would be a multi-joint synergy stabilizing the vertical body oscillation on stance phase of treadmill running and the effect of running speed.

METHOD: Experienced runners (N=28; 22-51 years old) ran on an instrumented treadmill set at 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 m/s. Ankle, knee, and hip angles in the sagittal plane and pelvis obliquity were used as elemental variables (DOF=4) to calculate the synergy index (DV_Z), which is the normalized difference between the variances in the joint space that did not affect (V_UCM) and affected (V_ORT) the vertical body oscillation (i.e., center of mass) during the stance phase (1-100%). Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) analyses were performed to detect the presence of synergy and the effect of running speed.

RESULTS: SPM analyses showed that independent of running speed, synergy was always present (DV_Z>0), except between 13% and 17% in the slowest speed. Also, results showed that the synergy index was unaffected by speed. Additionally, while no effect of speed was seen in the V_ORT, V_UCM in the fastest running speed was the highest between 7 and 43% of the stance phase.

INTERPRETATION: The findings indicated the existence of a synergy stabilizing the vertical body oscillation during the stance phase in running and the running speed did not affect the stabilization of the vertical body oscillation during the stance phase.

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Published

2025-05-08

How to Cite

Dias, M. S., Freitas, S. M. S. F., & de Freitas, P. B. (2025). Synergic control of vertical body oscillation during stance phase of treadmill running . Brazilian Journal of Motor Behavior, 19(1), e444. https://doi.org/10.20338/bjmb.v19i1.444

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Issue

Vol. 19 No. 1 (2025)

Section

Research Articles

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