One of the research lines of the Biomechanical Engineering Lab at CREB is the study of the foot-ground contact dynamics. The impact of the foot with the ground is a critical event when it is running. The high contact forces developed are the main cause of energy loss during the movement and can lead to different musculoskeletal injuries.

There are a number of runners that consider whether it is better to run with forefoot or heel impact. Based on the experimental data obtained in the UPC Motion Analysis Laboratory, the differences between two different running patterns are analyzed in this work, i.e., when the impact of the foot with the ground is with the front of the foot, usually related to barefoot running, and when the impact occurs at the heel. The results show that the dynamics of the impact when running using one pattern or the other is statistically different.

The article was published in the journal Multibody System Dynamics and you can download it through the following link.