Morphological analysis of the windlass mechanism during running.
Takashi Shiroshita
PMID 40171181WHAT IT FOUND
During slow running in 20 healthy university students, the foot arch lowered later than the ankle angle and ankle moment.
Eight runners showed a spike-like arch height rise late in stance, but not all runners.
Key findings
01During running, the ankle dorsiflexion angle peaked at 50.5% of the stance cycle, the ankle internal plantar flexion moment peaked at 54.4%, and the medial arch height was lowest at 59.5%.
02The medial arch height reached a minimum of 17.1 mm at 59.5% of the stance cycle before rising toward swing.
03Eight of the 20 runners showed a spike-like increase in medial arch height to 29.1 mm at 98% of the stance cycle.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
Only 20 healthy university students were tested, and they had no reported foot or ankle problem. The sample was mostly male, with 14 men and 6 women. The spike-like arch-height increase happened in only 8 of the 20 runners, so it was not a consistent feature. The arch-height calculation used skin markers, and the authors note the small spikes could be artifacts from sudden skin movement. Running speed was slow at 4.48 m/s ± 0.22, so it may not reflect faster running. The study did not include elderly people or people with foot problems.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the arch-height spike as proof of a useful windlass mechanism or as evidence for a treatment. It appeared in only 8 of 20 healthy runners, at slow running, and the authors note it could be skin-movement artifact.