Daniel Leib

The Effects of Load Carriage and Muscle Fatigue on Lower-Extremity Joint Mechanics

Military personnel are commonly afflicted by lower-extremity overuse injuries. Load carriage and muscular fatigue are major stressors during military basic training. Purpose: To examine effects of load carriage and muscular fatigue on lower-extremity joint mechanics during walking. Method: Eighteen men performed the following tasks: unloaded walking, walking with a 32-kg load, fatigued walking with a 32-kg load, and fatigued walking. After the second walking task, muscle fatigue was elicited through a fatiguing protocol consisting of metered step-ups and heel raises with a 16-kg load. Each walking task was performed at 1.67 m·s− 1 for 5 min. Walking movement was tracked by a VICON motion capture system at 120 Hz. Ground reaction forces were collected by a tandem force instrumented treadmill (AMTI) at 2,400 Hz. Lower-extremity joint mechanics were calculated in Visual 3D. Results: There was no interaction between load carriage and fatigue on lower-extremity joint mechanics (p>.05). Both load carriage and fatigue led to pronounced alterations of lower-extremity joint mechanics (p < .05). Load carriage resulted in increases of pelvis anterior tilt, hip and knee flexion at heel contact, and increases of hip, knee, and ankle joint moments and powers during weight acceptance. Muscle fatigue led to decreases of ankle dorsiflexion at heel contact, dorsiflexor moment, and joint power at weight acceptance. In addition, muscle fatigue increased demand for hip extensor moment and power at weight acceptance. Conclusion: Statistically significant changes in lower-extremity joint mechanics during loaded and fatigued walking may expose military personnel to increased risk for overuse injuries.

Influence of Fatigue and Load Carriage on Mechanical Loading During Walking

Load carriage and muscular fatigue are two major stressors experienced by military recruits during basic training. The purpose of this study was to assess the influences of load carriage and muscular fatigue on ground reaction forces and ground reaction loading rates during walking. Eighteen healthy males performed the following tasks in order: unloaded and unfatigued walking, loaded and unfatigued walking, fatiguing exercise, loaded and fatigued walking, and unloaded and fatigued walking. The fatiguing exercise consisted of a series of metered step-ups and heel raises with a 16-kg rucksack. Loaded walking tasks were performed with a 32-kg rucksack. Two-way repeated measures analysis of variances were used to determine the effects of fatigue and load carriage on ground reaction forces and loading rates. Muscular fatigue has a significant influence on peak vertical ground reaction force and loading rate (p < 0.01). Load carriage has a significant influence on peak ground reaction forces and loading rates (p < 0.001). As both muscular fatigue and load carriage lead to large increases of ground reaction forces and loading rates, the high incidence of lower extremity overuse injuries in the military may be associated with muscular fatigue and load carriage.

Effects of Fatigue on Golf Performance

The purpose of this study was to determine if body position, weight transfer, and/or pelvis/trunk rotations changed as a result of a golf specific fatiguing protocol and whether these changes affected resultant club head velocity at impact and shot consistency. Six male golfers and one female golfer participated in the study, who had a mean age, height, and body mass of 23.9 ± 3.9 years, 177.4 ± 4.9 cm, and 75.3 ± 9.9 kg, respectively. Path analysis was used to determine the relationships between fatigue, biomechanical variables, and resultant club head velocity at impact and shot consistency. In the statistical models representing the effects of biomechanical variables calculated at the top of the swing and ball contact, golf specific fatigue was associated with a 2.0% and 2.5% reduction in the club head velocity and a 7.1% and 9.4% improvement in the shot consistency, respectively. These data suggest that golf specific fatigue was not related to the initial lower body sagittal plane angles at address nor was simulated golf specific fatigue related to peak transverse plane pelvis and trunk rotational velocities (or their timings) in a manner that indicates a relationship to resultant club head velocity and shot consistency.