Effects of 4-week neuromuscular training on contralateral pelvic drop and running economy in recreational female runners

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 4-weeks neuromuscular training programs on contralateral pelvic drop (CPD) and running economy (RE) in female runners. Thirty-two female runners who experienced CPD volunteered for the study. The study was divided into 2 parts. The first part investigated the effectiveness of four neuromuscular training programs during four weeks. The purpose of the first part was to find which neuromuscular training program was most effective in correcting CPD. The second part examined the retention effects of the four neuromuscular training programs for another four weeks. In this study, the participants were divided into 4 groups of eight participants. The first groups received part correction training (PCT) where the participants received audio and visual feedbacks during step single leg squat (SSLS), while the second group performed whole correction training (WCT) where the participants received audio and visual feedbacks during running. The third group performed part whole correction training (PWCT) where they began the training with SSLS for 2 weeks followed by running for the last two weeks. The last group performed whole part correction training (WPCT) where they began their training by running before SSLS. The participants were assessed for contralateral pelvic drop angle (CPDA) and running economy (RE). CPDA was assessed during stance phase using 3D motion analysis, while RE was assessed using incremental running test. A mixed model ANOVA was performed to investigate the effects among the four neuromuscular trainings. The level of significance was set at 0.05. The results showed that the group x time interaction was statistically significant in CPDA while no statistical differences were found among four groups in RE. The comparison of retention effect of neuromuscular training program in study 2 was reassessed for 1 month. The testing procedure was identical to the first study. After 1-month follow up, we found no statistical differences in CPDA within-group of all groups. The results indicated that the participants in all groups were able to modify motor behavior and retain their improved skills after 1-month training

Further analysis suggested that WPCT was the most effective program in addressing CPDA during 4-week training. Moreover, the neuromuscular training program were able to modify the motor behavior and retain skill after 1-month training.