It is a regularly stated 'fact' that when running an individual will hit the ground with 2.5 to 3 times their body weight; however does anyone know where this value originated from?
Was there an initial/landmark paper which investigated this? In addition has there been any very recent work investigating the validity/accuracy of this commonly trusted fact?
There are numerous insights to this in the literature, here’s a cut and paste from one which discusses issue of normative values over range you are thinking about.
Relationship between vertical ground reaction force and speed during walking, slow jogging, and running
Authors: Keller T.S.1; Weisberger A.M.; Ray J.L.; Hasan S.S.; Shiavi R.G.; Spengler D.M.
Source: Clinical Biomechanics, Volume 11, Number 5, July 1996 , pp. 253-259(7)
Publisher: Elsevier
Conclusion
Knowledge of the relationship between gait speed and
vertical ground reaction force is important for developing
models of musculoskeletal adaptation to altered
activity, improvement of our understanding of the
aetiology and treatment of injuries associated with
running, and assessment of running performance. The
results of this study of 13 men and 10 women recreational
athletes indicated that the vertical ground
reaction forces increased linearly with gait speed up to
about 60% of the subjects’ maximum speed. At higher
speeds, vertical forces remained constant at approximately
2.5 times body weight. This finding is different
from that reported previously for running at speeds of
3-6 m SC’, and is hypothesized to be the result of a
lower centre of gravity associated with the forward
leaning running style adopted by the subjects in order
to achieve fast running speeds on a relatively short
runway. Male and female subjects had similar values
for the vertical GRF descriptors at all the speeds
examined, and linear regression relationships between
vertical thrust maximum force and velocity were similar
for both groups of subjects.
These results suggest,
therefore, that vertical GRF norms can be established
for males and females alike.
Moreover, slow jogging or
‘slogging’, characterized by a higher centre of gravity
and more bouncy running style, produced vertical
forces as much as 1.6 times greater than normal walking
at the same speed or running at higher speeds. Running
style, therefore, appears to be a particularly important
determinant of vertical GRF.
Cheers
Martin
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The earliest paper I know of, and the one most often quoted, on ground reaction forces during running comes from Peter Cavanagh and Mario LaFortune from 28 years ago (Cavanagh, P. R. and Lafortune, M. A. (1980) Ground reaction forces in distance running. J. Biomech. 13, 397-406).
Bobbert MF.
Yeadon MR.
Nigg BM.
Mechanical analysis of the landing phase in heel toe running.
Journal of Biomechanics.
25(3):22334, 1992 Mar.
With a force plate that measures at high frequency you can see a spike in the force at impact.
Their modeling and analysis showed that this spike is from the force of the foot and shank hitting the ground.
Then the force of whole body is added.
Anyway it is good paper that answers your question and is a good example of modeling.
Thank you to all - some great articles there for me to work my way through.
The most recent paper out of those was published in 2000, have any been done more recently than 8 years ago? (It may be time to commit to an MSc dissertation...)
A model-based parametric study of impact force during running
Journal of Biomechanics, Volume 40, Issue 9, 2007, Pages 2012-2021
Amir Abbas Zadpoor, Ali Asadi Nikooyan and Ahmad Reza Arshi
Just because they're old, does not mean that they are bad.
Is there any reason to expect that a repeat of the same study would provide different results?
Has technology improved?, has running changed? Have the laws of physics changed?
What would be your research question?
If you would like help formulating a research question I'm sure you get a lot of help right here on the ARENA.
Eric, I in no way intended to give the impression I thought their age reflected their quality - merely wondered if there were more recent studies performed. As far as the research question... well I will have to get back to you on that one....once I know it myself.....if i ever do....
Kevin, huge thanks for the PDFs no doubt they will bring up more questions which will make their way to the forum in due course