Abstract
This presented study provides a comparison of muscles activation during barefoot and shoe running. Twelve runners were measured during running barefoot and with shoes on smooth asphalt.
The runners were experienced athletes using running training at least 5 days a week. Each of runners performed six 20 second long runs (3 times without shoes and 3 times in shoes).
The average covariance of EMG signal among locomotion's cycles during running in full muffled running shoes was higher (0.72 +- 0.14) than from running without shoes (0.68 +- 0.17). The activation of leg muscles was more periodic in shoes than barefoot.
This result can be brought out by comfort in shoes. The behaviour of the muscle on the lower extremities were assessed with non-invasive technique and methods - surface electromyography by muscles tester ME 6000.
The measuring was synchronized with HD video camera. Triangle-based muscle onset detection was used within all periods of the EMG envelope signal.
The average covariance of subsequent EMG envelopes was calculated for every muscle with computer software Megawin and Matlab. The covariance has similar interpretation like the correlation (the repeatability of the muscle activity pattern represented by the EMG envelope), however we assume that it provides more accurate information because of its ability to reject the direct current bias of the EMG envelope signal.
The current results corresponded to our previous research comparing free bipedal walking in shoes (cov. 0.81 +- 0.10) and without shoes (cov. 0.78 +- 0.12. The main limitation of our study is the small sample of runners.
We may expect different results in population with different running technique. The current results showed more regular EMG signal in leg muscles during running in full muffled shoes than barefoot which may be associated with more economical locomotion of running.