The Effects of British Army Footwear on Ground Reaction Force and Temporal Parameters of British Army Foot-Drill

Rawcliffe, Alex J.; Graham, Scott M.; Simpson, Richard J.; Moir, Gavin L.; Martindale, Russell J.J.; Psycharakis, Stelios G.; Connaboy, Chris

Abstract

High rates of occupational training-related lower-limb musculoskeletal [MSK] overuse injuries are reported for British Army recruits during basic training. Foot-drill is a repetitive impact loading occupational activity and involves striking the ground violently with an extended-knee [straight-leg] landing. Foot-drill produces vertical ground reaction forces [vGRF] equal to and/or greater than those reported for high-level plyometric exercises/activities. Shock absorbing footwear aid in the attenuation of the magnitude of vGRF, resulting in a reduced risk of lower-limb MSK overuse injury when running. The potential shock absorbing characteristics of standard issue British Army footwear on the magnitude of vGRF and temporal parameters of foot-drill are scant. Therefore, this study sought to determine the magnitude of, and examine changes in vGRF and temporal parameters of foot-drill across three types of British Army footwear. Sampled at 1000hz, the mean of eight-trials from fifteen recreationally active males were collected from four foot-drills; stand-at-ease [SaE], stand-at-attention [SaA], quick-march [QM] and halt. Analysis of a normal walk was included to act as a comparison with quick-march. Significant main effects [P

Citation

Rawcliffe, A. J., Graham, S. M., Simpson, R. J., Moir, G. L., Martindale, R. J., Psycharakis, S. G., & Connaboy, C. (2020). The Effects of British Army Footwear on Ground Reaction Force and Temporal Parameters of British Army Foot-Drill. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 34(3), 754-762. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000002139

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 1, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Aug 9, 2017
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Deposit Date: Oct 26, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 10, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
• Print ISSN: 1064-8011
• Publisher: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 754-762
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000002139
• Keywords: Recruits, force plate, basic military training
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/977618
• Contract Date: Oct 26, 2017