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Department
of Podiatry
An
investigation of ankle joint motion in football umpires during backwards
and forwards running
Honours
Thesis Abstract
The injury
profile amongst Australian Rules Football umpires suggests that lower
limb problems, including ankle injuries, are common. Australian Rules
Football umpires spend a significant period of time running backward
during a football game. The aims of this study were to compare ankle
joint range of motion and angular velocity of motion during forward
and backward running as indicators of ankle function. The effect of
velocity change on range of motion was also investigated.
Eleven
Australian Rules Football umpires participated in this study. Each
participant was asked to run on a treadmill at self-selected velocities
as well as the control velocities of 1.25 and 1.81 m/s for backward
and forward running respectively.
Ankle
joint motion was found to decrease significantly when comparing backward
running to forward running at self-selected and control velocities.
Angular velocity of dorsiflexion was higher during backward running
at self-selected velocities while angular velocity of plantarflexion
was higher during forward running at self-selected and control velocities.
The reduction
in joint range of motion and high angular velocity of dorsiflexion
during backward running may contribute to injury risk in umpires.
However, the ability of backward running to cause injury in Australian
Rules Football umpires is still unclear. An important factor to control
for in future kinematic studies using a treadmill is running velocity
as this was shown to influence range of motion values.
Backward
running is a complex task requiring considerable effort to coordinate
movement. It is suggested that training of football umpires should
involve progressive amounts of backward running in order to reduce
the potential risk of lower limb injury.
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