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Chronic knee injury accounts for nearly half of the injuries from which runners suffer. Impact and propulsive forces are believed to contribute to the development of overuse injuries, so one method of protecting runners might be to reduce those forces. The purpose of this study was to examine the biomechanical role of running poles by comparing normal running to pole running. Ground reaction forces, tibial acceleration, and video data were collected on ten middle-age male recreational runners with a history of knee pain. Subjects ran across a force plate at a constant velocity of 3.5-3.7m/s with an accelerometer attached to the anteromedial aspect of the tibia. Hip, knee, and ankle joint range of motion and torque were calculated. Results indicated significant decreases in the average peak propulsive force and impulse, and a significant increase in peak hip joint torque. It was concluded that by providing an outside source of propulsion, running poles may be useful in reducing the risk of injury to runners. / School of Physical Education

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an eight-week walk/jog program upon strength retention. Twenty-four male executives from Dallas, Texas represented the sample size Following eight weeks of resistive training, all subjects were pretested for strength and endurance measures. After the eight-week walk/jog program, all subjects were then retested adhering to the same pretest protocol. A two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to test for mean group differences between pretest and posttest strength measures. A t-test for dependent means was utilized to ascertain differences in cardiovascular measurements. The alpha chosen to test the null hypotheses was the 0.05 level of significance. Results indicated that muscular strength was retained during the eight-week walk/jog program. No change in upper or lower extremity strength occurred, but significant improvements in maximal oxygen consumption and treadmill time were evidenced.