Kinetic and muscle activity comparisons in race walking and running

Abstract

Race walking is a form of upright locomotion that differs from normal
walking and running in that its form is dictated by the International
Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF). Despite the differences
compared to running, race walking has not been the subject of
equally intensive investigations. This study explores the kinetic and
muscle activity differences between race walking and running. A
quantitative approach was used to evaluate kinetic and muscle
activity variables between race walking and running. A crosssectional,
laboratory design was used on recreationally competitive
race walkers to evaluate these variables. Based on the results of the
study, significantly greater sagittal plane peak hip flexor, knee
extensor moments, and rectus femoris muscle activity contribute to
significant difference between race walking and running. These
differences showed that running requires more contribution from the
lower extremities kinetically, as well as increased overall muscle
activation, to execute the motion than race walking. These
results likely contributed to the increased velocity of the subjects
during running. In spite of these findings, there were some variables
that had no significant differences between race walking and
running, especially the tibalis anterior activation and the dorsiflexor
moment. This suggests that injuries during RW can potentially be
similar to those during running. Further research is necessary to see
if there is a greater risk of injury in elite-level race walking athletes.