The effectiveness of gait retraining on running kinematics, kinetics, performance, pain, and injury in distance runners: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Review written by Tom Goom info

Key Points

  1. 19 studies met the inclusion criteria but only two were in people with a running-related injury.
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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

Running gait retraining has grown in popularity with the potential to decrease load on sensitive tissue, reduce injury risk, and improve performance. Despite this potential, high quality evidence is lacking and most support comes from small, uncontrolled trials, largely in healthy populations.

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to synthesize the evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that examined the effect of retraining on kinematics (e.g. hip adduction angle), kinetics (e.g. vertical loading rate), performance, pain, and injury in distance runners.

Running gait retraining has grown in popularity with the potential to decrease load on sensitive tissue, reduce injury risk, and improve performance.
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The best approach in the clinic may be to work on an individual basis to see if gait retraining might be helpful for the patient in front of you.

METHODS

  • A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) guidance.
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