Running-Related Injury Incidence: Does It Correlate with Kinematic Sub-groups of Runners? A Scoping Review

Abstract

Background: Historically, kinematic measures have been compared across injured and non-injured groups of runners, failing to take into account variability in kinematic patterns that exist independent of injury, and resulting in false positives. Research led by gait patterns and not pre-defined injury status is called for, to better understand running-related injury (RRI) aetiology and within- and between-group variability.

Objectives: Synthesise evidence for the existence of distinct kinematic sub-groups across a population of injured and healthy runners and assess between-group variability in kinematics, demographics and injury incidence.

Data sources: Electronic database search: PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Wiley), Embase, OVID, Scopus.

Eligibility criteria: Original, peer-reviewed, research articles, published from database start to August 2022 and limited to English language were searched for quantitative and mixed-methods full-text studies that clustered injured runners according to kinematic variables.

Results: Five studies (n = 690) were included in the review. All studies detected the presence of distinct kinematic sub-groups of runners through cluster analysis. Sub-groups were defined by multiple differences in hip, knee and foot kinematics. Sex, step rate and running speed also varied significantly between groups. Random injury dispersal across sub-groups suggests no strong evidence for an association between kinematic sub-groups and injury type or location.

Conclusion: Sub-groups containing homogeneous gait patterns exist across healthy and injured populations of runners. It is likely that a single injury may be represented by multiple movement patterns, and therefore kinematics may not predict injury risk. Research to better understand the underlying causes of kinematic variability, and their associations with RRI, is warranted.

Fig. 1

PRISMA flowchart showing the screening process undertaken within the scoping review

Fig. 2

Heatmap depicting the significance of between-group differences, as determined from p values (one-way ANOVA)